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DuPont moves on Iowa cellulosic plant

DuPont is one step closer to commercializing advanced biofuels.

The company broke ground today on its cellulosic ethanol facility in Nevada, Iowa.

The 30-million gallon plant will use corn stover residues as its feedstock.  Jim Collins, president of DuPont Industrial Biosciences, says

DuPont’s cellulosic ethanol plant will be located next to the Lincolnway Energy ethanol plant in Nevada.

as many as 500 local farmers could be involved in supplying product to the plant.

“We’re looking at (using) somewhere close to 375- to 380-thousand tons of stover per year,” Collins says. “If you put that on a per bale basis, it’s about 600-thousand bales—and if you divide that into a full year, that’s about one bale a minute going into the front gate of the facility.”

Collins envisions this being the first of many cellulosic facilities that will be built using DuPont’s technology.

“We believe you could see 100 of these facilities needed over the next 15 to 20 years,” he says, “and we think DuPont technology will play a very, very critical role in that evolution as we build.”

DuPont plans to have the Nevada plant operational by mid-2014.  The company is investing more than 200-million dollars to build the facility.

AUDIO: Jim Collins (15:21 MP3)

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