DuPont Danisco Cellulosic Ethanol LLC is a 50/50 joint venture

Joint venture

A joint venture is a business agreement in which parties agree to develop, for a finite time, a new entity and new assets by contributing equity. They exercise control over the enterprise and consequently share revenues, expenses and assets...

 between DuPont

DuPont

E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company , commonly referred to as DuPont, is an American chemical company that was founded in July 1802 as a gunpowder mill by Eleuthère Irénée du Pont. DuPont was the world's third largest chemical company based on market capitalization and ninth based on revenue in 2009...

 and Genencor, a subsidiary of Danisco

Danisco

Danisco A/S is a Danish bio-based company with activities in food production, enzymes and other bioproducts as well as a wide variety of pharmaceutical grade excipients. It was formed in 1989 from the largest Danish industrial merger ever of the two old C.F...

. The company is accelerating development and deployment of cellulosic ethanol

Cellulosic ethanol

Cellulosic ethanol is a biofuel produced from wood, grasses, or the non-edible parts of plants.It is a type of biofuel produced from lignocellulose, a structural material that comprises much of the mass of plants. Lignocellulose is composed mainly of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin...

, which is ethanol made from non-food biomass. DDCE plans to license its technology and also will engage in limited operations of cellulosic ethanol biorefineries.

The company's collaborations include work with Genera Energy and the University of Tennessee

University of Tennessee

The University of Tennessee is a public land-grant university headquartered at Knoxville, Tennessee, United States...

 Research Foundation DDCE has constructed a demonstration-scale biorefinery and research and development facility for cellulosic ethanol in Vonore, Tennessee

Vonore, Tennessee

Vonore is a town in Blount and Monroe counties in the U.S. state of Tennessee. The population was 1,162 as of the 2000 census.-Geography:Vonore is located at ....

. The plant went into operation at the end of 2009.