Growing Demand for DuPont Renewable Products Drives Global Commercialization

DuPont Updates Investors on its Applied BioSciences Business

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May 11, 2010, 01:30 ET

VONORE and LOUDON, Tenn., May 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- DuPont (NYSE: DD) is executing a rapid commercialization strategy in its Applied BioSciences business for a diverse portfolio of high-performance, renewable products that address the needs of large markets, DuPont leaders told security analysts and investors. As a result, the company has set goals for the Applied BioSciences business of $1 billion in revenue and $250 million in pretax earnings by 2015.

"DuPont is uniquely positioned to lead in industrial biotechnology. We are connecting our core technology capabilities to markets that can be transformed by our science and this strategy is beginning to pay off," said Thomas M. Connelly, DuPont executive vice president and chief innovation officer. "The Applied BioSciences portfolio is developing solutions to reduce dependence on fossil fuels, and continues to be one of the most significant growth opportunities in the company's history."

"We are seeing rapid growth and expansion from our first suite of biomaterials products while our biofuels programs have met technical and economic hurdles and advanced to the demonstration phase," said Craig Binetti, president – DuPont Applied BioSciences. "As a result, we are confident in our goal to deliver substantial revenue and earnings growth for DuPont."

Investors were invited to Tennessee to see the business' first commercial biomaterials facility and its first demonstration biofuels facility, each of which is bringing DuPont Applied BioSciences technology to market. The DuPont Tate & Lyle Bio Products facility in Loudon, Tenn., produces 100 million pounds annually of Bio-PDO®. The DuPont Danisco Cellulosic Ethanol demonstration facility in Vonore, Tenn., is preparing this second-generation biofuel technology for market.

Updates provided on the business portfolio included:

BioMaterials

Customer demand and adoption rates are growing rapidly for Bio-PDO® and its Sorona® polymer products across a wide range of markets. To meet this demand, DuPont Tate & Lyle Bio Products LLC announced last week a 35 percent capacity expansion for its Bio-PDO® product.
Sorona® polymer operations have doubled since the last investors update in 2007 and now include four polymer facilities: two in North Carolina and two in China to supply the rapid growth momentum of the market.
The Sorona® apparel business has grown more than 300 percent in the last two years while Mohawk's SmartStrand® with DuPont™ Sorona® renewably sourced polymer residential carpet line has doubled during the same period.
DuPont launched its Sorona® commercial carpet product offering last year.
DuPont introduced its New Harvest™ omega-3 nutritional supplement into more than 600 GNC retail stores. New Harvest™ does not contain fish oil and is a vegetarian source of EPA – the long chain fatty acid shown to support heart health.
DuPont continues technology development for its BioSurfaces portfolio.
DuPont continues to develop strategies to bring its BioMedical technologies to market.

BioFuels

Since 2007, DuPont BioFuels has formed two joint ventures, received two U.S. Department of Energy grants and two state of Tennessee grants and participated as a showcase of renewable fuels in the 2007 United States State of the Union activities. DuPont Danisco Cellulosic Ethanol LLC was formed in 2008 and Butamax™ Advanced Biofuels LLC was formed in 2009.
DuPont confirmed that joint ventures with BP for biobutanol and Danisco for cellulosic ethanol have accelerated technology development. Both ventures are in the process of demonstrating their technology at scale (biobutanol demonstration unit scheduled to start up in 3Q 2010).
In its biobutanol partnership with BP, called Butamax™ Advanced Biofuels LLC, DuPont confirmed that extensive market testing of biobutanol is complete. Fuels testing labs ran butanol for more than 1.3 million miles and retail testing was done with over 250,000 vehicle fill-ups and more than 80 million miles driven. Testing confirmed the valuable performance attributes of biobutanol.
DuPont maintains a minority share in Vivergo Fuels, an ethanol facility under construction in the United Kingdom with partners BP and British Sugar.

"Our unmatched access to production agriculture through our Pioneer Hi-Bred business, our global reach in geographic markets such as China and Brazil and our knowledge of many global business markets including automotive and packaging provides insights from farmers to the end user. This is a true DuPont advantage," Connelly said. "In addition our strong partnerships with BP, Danisco, Tate & Lyle and others complement our skills and accelerate our progress and pace."

"We are in pursuit of large, growing renewable markets in excess of $150 billion," Binetti said. "The developing nature of this space coupled with our advantaged biotechnology capabilities and market-access provides us the opportunity for step-change growth and competitive advantage. We do not just want to participate in the markets, but shape and transform the industries we serve."

A copy of today's presentations can be found at the Investor Center of the company's website at www.dupont.com.

DuPont is a science-based products and services company. Founded in 1802, DuPont puts science to work by creating sustainable solutions essential to a better, safer, healthier life for people everywhere. Operating in approximately 80 countries, DuPont offers a wide range of innovative products and services for markets including agriculture and food; building and construction; communications; and transportation.

Forward-Looking Statements: This news release contains forward-looking statements based on management's current expectations, estimates and projections. All statements that address expectations or projections about the future, including statements about the company's strategy for growth, product development, market position, expected expenditures and financial results are forward-looking statements. Some of the forward-looking statements may be identified by words like "expects," "anticipates," "plans," "intends," "projects," "indicates," and similar expressions. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Many factors, including those discussed more fully elsewhere in this release and in documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission by DuPont, particularly its latest annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly report on Form 10-Q, as well as others, could cause results to differ materially from those stated. These factors include, but are not limited to changes in the laws, regulations, policies and economic conditions, including inflation, interest and foreign currency exchange rates, of countries in which the company does business; competitive pressures; successful integration of structural changes, including restructuring plans, acquisitions, divestitures and alliances; cost of raw materials, research and development of new products, including regulatory approval and market acceptance; seasonality of sales of agricultural products; and severe weather events that cause business interruptions, including plant and power outages, or disruptions in supplier and customer operations.

DuPont Applied BioSciences Factsheet: http://www2.dupont.com/Media_Center/en_US/assets/downloads/pdf/FactSheet_IR_ABS.pdf

The DuPont Oval Logo, DuPont, The miracles of science, Bio-PDO®, New Harvest™ and, Sorona® are registered trademarks or trademarks of DuPont or its affiliates.

SmartStrand® is a registered trademark of Mohawk Industries.

Butamax™ is a trademark of Butamax Advanced Biofuels LLC, a DuPont and BP joint venture.

SOURCE DuPont