Wilmington, Delaware
May 26, 2004
New company will replace petrochemicals with
renewable resources
DuPont and
Tate & Lyle PLC today
announced a joint venture to create products from renewable
resources such as corn for numerous applications including
clothing, interiors, engineered polymers and textile fibers.
The new company – DuPont Tate & Lyle BioProducts,
LLC – is equally owned by DuPont and Tate & Lyle and will be
based in Wilmington, Del. The company plans to construct its
initial commercial manufacturing plant adjacent to an existing
facility in Loudon, Tenn., with startup scheduled for 2006. A
pilot facility in Decatur, Ill. has been operating for several
years.
The joint venture will use a proprietary
fermentation and purification process developed jointly by
DuPont and Tate & Lyle to produce 1,3 propanediol (PDO), the key
building block for DuPont™ Sorona®
polymer. As DuPont's newest polymer platform, Sorona® offers
unique properties such as stain-resistance, exceptional
softness, comfort stretch and recovery, and UV- and
chlorine-resistance when compared to polyester and nylon. Sorona®
can be used in a variety of applications including textile
apparel, interiors, engineering resins and packaging. The new
bio-based technology uses less energy and employs renewable
resources – replacing the need for traditional petrochemicals
now used to produce 1,3 propanediol (PDO).
"As a science company, DuPont is committed to
business and research initiatives that meet customer and market
needs while delivering both shareholder and societal value,"
said John Ranieri, vice president
and general manager – DuPont Bio-Based Materials. "Sorona® is an
excellent example of putting science to work by integrating
biology with materials science. Sorona® combines the emerging
discipline of metabolic engineering (the capability for biology
to produce valuable products) with the leading polymer
engineering capabilities of DuPont."
"The joint venture is further evidence of Tate &
Lyle's strength in innovation, our success in developing key
industrial partnerships and our ability to generate value-added
product growth. It is a natural fit with our core skills in
fermentation of natural products," said Iain Ferguson, chief
executive – Tate & Lyle PLC. "Partnerships are an important
component of our strategy to build our business and we are
delighted that our relationship with DuPont continues to
advance. This is also a good example of the excellence of Tate &
Lyle's research and development capability in delivering a
product from renewable resources that can selectively replace
those made from petrochemicals."
John D. Halberstadt of DuPont has been named
president of the joint venture. He will report to a board of
managers with representatives from both parent companies.
Sorona® is currently manufactured from
petroleum-based PDO, and is available commercially from DuPont.
It is used to produce clothing and fabrics with superior
softness, dyeability, and a natural stretch. Bio-PDO™
corn-derived chemical and Sorona® polymer made from Bio-PDO™
will be available in 2006.
Last year,
the U.S Environmental Protection Agency presented DuPont with
its annual "Presidential Green Chemistry Award" for the
company's research leading to the development of the bio-PDO
process.
Tate & Lyle is a world leader in ingredients. Its
core competence is to take corn, wheat or sugar, and add value
to these raw materials through technology. As a result of
continuous innovation, it offers an ever-wider product portfolio
of versatile and functional ingredients. These products include
Cereal Sweeteners, Starches, Sugars and Citric Acid. Tate & Lyle
products have wide applications in the food, beverage,
pharmaceutical, cosmetic, paper, packaging and building
industries. With headquarters in London, Tate & Lyle operates
more than 40 plants in 24 countries, almost all in Europe and
the Americas. It employs 6,700 people in its subsidiaries with a
further 2,800 employed in joint ventures. Sales in the year
ending March 31, 2003, totalled £3,167 million.
DuPont is a science company. Founded in 1802,
DuPont puts science to work by solving problems and creating
solutions that make people's lives better, safer and easier.
Operating in more than 70 countries, the company offers a wide
range of products and services to markets including agriculture,
nutrition, electronics, communications, safety and protection,
home and construction, transportation and apparel.
The DuPont Oval, DuPont™, The miracles of
science™, Bio-PDO™, and Sorona® are registered trademarks or
trademarks of DuPont or its affiliates. |