Dec 14 2009
The Pew Center for Global Climate Change recently published a white paper that reviews the DuPont-BP partnership on developing renewable energy sources. The authors, Truman Semans and Andre de Fontaine, focus on the business opportunities for those companies that lead in the delivery of solutions on climate change issues.
Accelerating biofuel development opens market opportunities.
The white paper, titled "Innovating through Alliance: A Case Study of the DuPont-BP Partnership on Biofuels," describes in detail how industry alliances can deliver innovation and technology on an accelerated timetable. It reports:
"The companies that are ahead of the curve stand to gain competitive advantage over their peers as they acquire early toeholds in new markets created by climate change regulations. The DuPont-BP partnership on biofuels is one example of a creative approach two major corporations are taking to tap these new market opportunities. At this early stage, there is much to be learned about the new approaches, methods and tools that innovators like DuPont and BP employ to speed the development and deployment of the technologies needed to mitigate and adapt to climate change."
According to John Ranieri, vice president - BioMaterials Group, "What we set out to do from the beginning was to evaluate how to transform a marketplace using biotech to deliver advantages that chemistry couldn't offer, and reduce the environmental footprint associated with that product at the same time."
In the interview, John highlighted the advantages of biobutanol.
"You can put it directly into a pipeline; you can ship it; you don't have to worry about some of the vapor pressure issues. Butanol is more similar to gasoline. You can put it directly into the refinery," he said. "Right now its major disadvantage is price point. And that's what we're working on."
The report states that one of the keys "to the early success of the Applied BioSciences business is its compatibility with DuPont's broader corporate strategy that focuses on 'Sustainable Growth.'"
To read the White Paper, click here.