DuPont to make corn-based plastic

DuPont Co., the chemical giant that forged its name making plastics from oil, plans to start producing its first plastic made from corn next year. Tuesday's announcement marked a significant shift for the company, whose profits have been buffeted by rising oil prices. Key components of DuPont's new generation of plastics and fibers will be made from potentially cheaper and renewable farm crops. The first customers for DuPont's corn sugar-based Sorona and Hytrel plastics will be in the automotive, electrical and electronics industries, the company said. Potential uses include electronic connectors and plastic car parts, such as automotive airbag doors, air ducts, brake lines and fuel lines. Advertisement This new venture, which has been in development for three years, continues DuPont's effort to raise the percent of its revenue coming from nondepletable resources to 25 percent by 2010. It was 17 percent last year. "It will probably go down as a significant milestone in biotechnology," said Nandan Rao, vice president of technology for DuPont Performance Materials. Rao would not discuss revenue projections and declined to say how much the company has invested in the project. DuPont's announcement follows on the heels of its announcement last week that it formed a partnership with BP Plc., the British oil company, to develop and sell a bio-based gasoline additive to compete with Ethanol. DuPont and BP plan to start producing what they call "biobutanol" in the United Kingdom as early as 2007. The announcement didn't do much for DuPont's shares, which fell Tuesday on news that Vivendi SA, owner of the world's largest music company, and one of DuPont's largest shareholders, said it sold its 16.4 million shares for $671 million. Vivendi's stake amounted to just under 2 percent of the company. DuPont shares slid $1.16, or 2.8 percent, closing at $40.88 Tuesday in New York Stock Exchange trading. The shares are down 8.2 percent this year. DuPont is not the first company in the bio-plastics business. Four years ago, NatureWorks LLC, a subsidiary of agricultural giant Cargill Inc. started selling corn-based plastics used mostly in food packaging. Its customers include such food industry heavyweights as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Newman's Own Organics. Brent Erickson, executive vice president, industrial and environmental section at BIO, the Biotechnology Industry Organization, said two factors are driving the interest in bio-based plastics. "As oil goes up, the cost of plastics derived from oil goes up, so it makes bio-based plastics more attractive," Erickson said. Consumers also are showing greater interest in green products, Erickson said. Within four years, 20 percent of the chemicals market will be made in whole or in part by biotech methods, Erickson said, citing a study by McKinsey & Co. Industrial biotechnology, using such natural processes as fermentation to make chemicals and materials, forms the third leg of the biotech triangle. Along with bio-based pharmaceuticals and foods, it carries the potential to change the way industry works and people live, proponents say. "This is often referred to as the third wave of biotechnology, and by some, it's been touted as the most influential," said Bob Dayton, president of the Delaware BioScience Association. DuPont touts the environmental benefits of bio-based Sorona and Hytrel, the building block of each is the corn-based Bio-PDO that will be produced at a $100 million manufacturing plant DuPont is building with Tate & Lyle Plc. in Loudon, Tenn. The plant, the largest of its kind in the world, is scheduled to open later this year. It will have the capacity for making 100 million tons of Bio-PDO a year, using 40 percent less energy to produce the same amount of petroleum-based propanediol. That will save the equivalent of 10 million gallons of oil annually, DuPont said. The Bio-PDO that will be produced at the Loudon facility will be used not only for bio-based plastics, but also for bio-based Sorona fibers for apparel and carpeting. Whether DuPont's bio-plastics are a success depends on whether manufacturers sign on. "It's interesting, but for the automakers, it's going to come down to cost," said Erich Merkle, director of forecasting for IRN Inc., an automotive consulting firm based in Grand Rapids, Mich. With ethanol makers expected to gobble up acres of corn to make the gasoline additive, it remains to be seen whether DuPont will be able to readily get the corn it needs to make its new bio-based plastics, according to Merkle. If a supply crunch pushes corn prices up, it could make bio-based plastics too expensive for carmakers. DuPont may find greater receptiveness in the European car market, where governments are pressing automakers to make more of their parts from recyclable sources, Merkle said. Source:[ http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060628/NEWS/606280390/-1/NEWS01]

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