DuPont cellulosic ethanol: Sustainable corn stover harvest for biofuel production

DuPont has been developing technology to produce ethanol from cellulosic biomass for over a decade.In 2012, DuPont Industrial Biosciences will take the first steps to commercialize this revolutionary technology by commencing construction on a first-of-its-kind cellulosic biorefinery near Nevada, Iowa.This biorefinery, which is expected to begin operation in 2014, will produce 25 million gallons of ethanol annually from corn stover.All of the stover required to operate the biorefinery will be collected from within a 30-mile radius of the plant location.To lead the way in meeting the feedstock needs of next generation of biofuels, DuPont partnered with Iowa State University in 2010 to initiate a corn stover supply chain research and development program in central Iowa.Over the past three years, this program has been working to develop and scale-up a cost-effective, high-quality and sustainable supply of corn stover biomass for the Nevada biorefinery.At full commercial capacity, DuPont' s Nevada biorefinery will consume roughly 350, 000 tons of corn stover each year (Figure 1).