DuPont, Tate & Lyle Joint Venture

WILMINGTON - May 26/04 - SNS -- DuPont and Tate & Lyle PLC have created a company which will create products from renewable resources such as corn for numerous applications including clothing, interiors, engineered polymers and textile fibers.

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(TM) Sorona(R) polymer.

Sorona(R) 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).

John D. Halberstadt of DuPont has been named president of the joint venture. He will report to a board of managers with representatives from both parent companies.

Sorona(R) is currently manufactured from petroleum-based PDO, and is available commercially from DuPont. It is used to produce clothing and fabrics with superior softness, dyeability, and a natural stretch. Bio-PDO(TM) corn-derived chemical and Sorona(R) polymer made from Bio-PDO(TM) will be available in 2006.