BP said its joint venture with DuPont called Butamax will be acquiring an ethanol facility in Kansas.
The company said in a statement that the plan is the next step in commercialization of Butamax bio-isobutanol production.
Butamax will now start the detailed engineering work to add bio-isobutanol capacity to the facility, while continuing to produce ethanol before and after adding this capacity.
Bio-isobutanol is a cost-effective alternative to isobutanol derived from fossil feedstock. Produced from renewable feedstocks, it offers both a valuable option for growing the renewable content of gasoline and a lower carbon alternative to fossil-derived isobutanol in existing chemical applications. As a fuel, it can be blended with gasoline in higher concentrations than ethanol without compromising compatibility or performance. Bio-isobutanol blends do not suffer from the water solubility issues of ethanol, which means they can be transported via existing fuel pipelines. In the chemicals industry, it is used both directly and as an important building-block for a wider range of products.
Commenting on the proposed acquisition Dev Sanyal, BP’s chief executive of alternative energy, said, “With the largest operated renewables business among the major oil companies, BP is committed to being a part of the global transition to a lower-carbon future. We invest in renewables where we believe we can build commercially viable businesses at scale, and this project, which brings together BP’s and DuPont’s complementary expertise, is another important step in that direction.”
According to BP’s disclosure, Butamax Advanced Biofuels LLC, a 50/50 joint venture between BP and DuPont, combining expertise in fuels with industrial biotechnology, today announced the acquisition of Nesika Energy, LLC and its state-of-the-art ethanol facility in Scandia, Kansas.
