New enzymes turn waste into fuel
Novozymes launches the first commercially viable enzymes for production of biofuel from agricultural waste. Breakthroughs in enzyme technology enable cellulosic biofuel as a competitive alternative to gasoline.
Novozymes’ new Cellic® CTec2 enzymes enable the biofuel industry to produce cellulosic ethanol at a price below USD 2.00 per gallon for the initial commercial-scale plants that are scheduled to be in operation in 2011. This cost is on par with gasoline and conventional ethanol at the current US market prices.
“We have been working on this for the past 10 years and promised our customers and the market to be ready by 2010,” says Novozymes’ CEO, Steen Riisgaard. “I’m extremely pleased to announce that we’re ready. The enzymes are ready. Biofuel producers now have a critical component to turn agricultural waste into a competitive alternative to gasoline.”
Extraordinary advances in enzyme development have reduced the enzyme cost for cellulosic ethanol by 80% over the past two years and enzyme costs are now down to approximately 50 cents per gallon of cellulosic ethanol. Novozymes has allocated unprecedented resources to the project, and the company has also received development grants totaling USD 29.3 million from the US Department of Energy.
Novozymes has partnered with leading companies in the biofuel industry, such as POET, Greenfield Ethanol, Inbicon, Lignol, ICM, M&G, CTC, COFCO, Sinopec, and PRAJ to help accelerate process technology development and implementation. Coupled with further improvements in enzyme efficiency, Novozymes expects the cost to produce cellulosic biofuel to be further reduced.
Tags: Carbon Footprint
