If cars running on biofuels performed as erratically as investments in the sector, you could expect a very bumpy ride. On Tuesday, Associated British Foods and BP announced that they and DuPont of the US would build a new biofuel plant in the UK, earning a warmish welcome from investors. Meanwhile, heavily-indebted Biofuels Corporation heralded its disappearance from the public markets, with the publication of plans to restructure and delist.

Biofuels’ fate is in part a cautionary tale about the perils of early adoption in a technology – biodiesel in its case – with uncertain potential, in part an old-fashioned saga of commercial mistakes and mishaps. But above all, it is a story about the triumph of investors’ hope over experience. As pointed out here last month, warnings about the impending debt-for-equity swap, which will leave Barclays, the company’s banker, with a large stake and shareholders with next to nothing, proved no deterrent.