DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
Novozymes said Tuesday it has launched the first commercially
viable enzymes for production of biofuel from agricultural
waste.
MAIN FACTS:
-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 $2 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.
-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 partnered with 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.
-"Our partners expect production costs to fall below $2 per
gallon once their first commercial scale plants are fully
operational, and the cost will continue to drop in the future."
-Cellulosic ethanol uses enzymes to break down cellulose in
biomass into sugars that can be fermented into ethanol.
-Cellic CTec2 has proven to work on many different feedstock
types, including corn cobs and stalks, wheat straw, sugarcane
bagasse, and woodchips.
-A number of pilot- and demonstration-scale facilities are in
operation, while large-scale commercial facilities are under
construction and scheduled to be operational in 2011.
-The recent support from the Obama Administration will reignite
investments in new biorefineries across the US. However, moving to
higher blends such as E15 and promotion of E85 are still needed to
meet the cellulosic ethanol targets defined by the Renewable Fuel
Standard.
-By Stockholm Bureau, Dow Jones Newswires; +46-8-5451-3090;
djnews.stockholm@dowjones.com