DuPont, Wilmington DE, and Broin Companies, Sioux Falls SD, have announced a partnership to advance the development of ethanol from cellulosic biomass, according to DuPont information.
The goal of the partnership is to bring to market cost-effective ethanol derived from corn stover (corn stalks often used as fodder).
“We have worked over the last three years to develop a technology package that can efficiently break down the complex sugar matrix found in corn stover into ethanol from cellulose at a high yield," Thomas Connelly, DuPont executive vice-president, chief innovation officer, said in a press release.
The efforts of DuPont will be combined with Broin’s ethanol production technology. Since 2003, DuPont and the Department of Energy have jointly funded a four-year research program to develop technology to convert corn stover into ethanol. Studies also have involved other crops, such as grasses, and agricultural byproducts, such as straw.
Broin and the Department of Energy jointly funded a five-year research initiative to develop and improve dry mill fractionation with the assistance of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and South Dakota State University. The project provided for the commercialization of Broin’s fractionation technology, which together with Broin’s raw starch hydrolysis process, creates the foundation for biorefining in the future. DuPont said the results include producing higher ethanol yields, but more importantly it creates additional value-added products and streams -- including the intended use of fiber in the production of cellulose to ethanol.