DuPont: Building on the Past towards a Sustainable Future

DuPont, one of the world's oldest leading chemical giants, is rapidly becoming an industrial biotechnology powerhouse. Ray will explain the driving forces behind this transformation, and highlight DuPont's development and commercialization of sustainable materials and energy offerings starting over a decade ago, before higher oil prices and global warming trends were widely recognized concerns. He will focus heavily on the development and commercial introduction of the Bio-PDOÔ and Sorona" polymer platforms and progress being made to broaden the offerings with value-added specialties such as Cerenol™ based on this initial platform molecule (bio-sourced 1,3 propanediol). The presentation will also briefly touch on the DuPont DOE-matching funds bio-refinery program and DuPont's partnership with BP to introduce biobutanolÔ fuel for the future as well as other applications of biosciences in the surfaces and medical areas. The presentation will conclude with some suggestions on the role of past business models in helping achieve these fundamental shifts away from petroleum dependency in our materials and fuels sectors.