KBR to provide engineering and procurement services for ethanol plant in US

DuPont has awarded a contract to KBR for providing engineering and procurement services for its first cellulosic ethanol plant in Nevada, Iowa.

The value of the contract has not been disclosed.

KBR will provide front-end engineering, detailed engineering and procurement services to DuPont’s Industrial Biosciences Group for the ethanol facility which will use corn stover and process it to produce the cellulosic ethanol products.

KBR Downstream president David Zelinski said the company has a long-standing partnership with DuPont and a history of successful project execution.

"This award further affirms and solidifies KBR’s 20-plus year partnership with DuPont in the safe and efficient development and execution of capital projects, and reinforces KBR’s position as an EPC leader in bio fuels projects," Zelinski said.

Fuel manufacturers will use the cellulosic ethanol products produced from the plant as a blending component in gasoline to meet the US EPA mandated requirements for the ethanol extracted from the cellulosic sources.

The facility has been designed to process 1,300 tonnes of corn stover every day and produce 27.5 million gallons of ethanol annually.

KBR will carry out the project from its Wilmington, Delaware operations center, a bio fuels center.

The ground breaking ceremony is scheduled for the second half of 2012 and the construction period is expected take 12-18 months.

US based KBR is a engineering, construction and services company supporting the energy, hydrocarbon, government services, minerals, civil infrastructure, power, industrial, and commercial markets.