A DuPont executive says plans to bring advanced biofuels programs to market are on track and making significant technical progress toward the commercialization of biobutanol and the conversion of cellulosic feedstocks economically into biofuels.

“Biobutanol and cellulosic ethanol have the ability to transform the biofuels industry,” Vice President & General Manager John Ranieri told an investor conference last week. “Our flexible business models allow us to penetrate different geographies with the ability to convert various feedstocks to meet the significant global demand for biofuels.”

DuPont is developing and commercializing an upstream biofuel technology to produce cellulosic ethanol that will use non-food energy feedstocks such as corn cob and switchgrass, and a downstream biofuel technology to produce biobutanol, a high-performance biofuel that can be delivered through existing gasoline distribution channels.

In May, DuPont announced a joint venture with Danisco to deliver low cost, sustainable cellulosic ethanol technology. In July, the DuPont Danisco Cellulosic Ethanol LLC joint venture announced a partnership with the University of Tennessee to build a pilot and demonstration facility for the cellulosic ethanol technology, groundbreaking scheduled later this month. DuPont is jointly developing biobutanol with BP in a partnership first announced in 2006.