May 27 2004
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 fibres.
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).
For more information on textiles, click here.