Due to increasing demand for fuel ethanol, the market for enzymes used to produce the fuel is also growing rapidly. Not only is fuel ethanol a renewable resource; it also burns cleaner than gasoline and produces fewer harmful greenhouse gases. Environmentally friendly by nature, the use of fuel ethanol has enabled the United States to phase out the gasoline additive MTBE (methyl tertiary butyl ether) - a contaminant which has been found in drinking water in many parts of the country.
Novozymes produces a wide range of enzymes that optimize the conversion of grains such as corn, barley, wheat and rye into fuel ethanol. Our solutions give you higher ethanol yields, faster throughput and lower overall processing costs.
And added to our unique enzyme solutions, we can offer you unmatched technical expertise and a constant focus on advancing the industry with important bioinnovations. We can help you move into the fast lane of ethanol production.
Preparing for the future, today
The world needs energy and will need even more of it in the future – and biofuels will continue to be a key component in our future energy mix. Moving ahead in the fuel ethanol industry means that we must not only optimize the first-generation, starch-based processes used today; we must also prepare for the next generation of biofuels based on cellulosic biomass.
Biomass is a renewable energy source that can be used as fuel or for industrial production. Unlike agricultural products like corn and wheat grain that can also be used for fuel production, biomass (which includes forest and mill residues, agricultural wastes, wood and wood wastes, animal wastes, fast-growing trees and plants, and municipal and industrial wastes) contains a lot of lignocellulosic fibers. These fibers make processing biomass much more difficult than its sugar-based counterparts.
Novozymes has already come a long way in developing state-of-the-art enzyme solutions that convert cellulose into simple sugars, which in turn can be fermented into fuel ethanol. We are dedicated to continue to develop sustainable solutions that not only improve the environment, but also enhance your business.
There are almost endless possibilities when choosing feedstocks for cellulosic ethanol production, such as crop residues, energy crops, and municipal solid waste. While each feedstock is at a different level of progress in becoming commercially viable, we have already started the ball rolling. Each day we get closer to developing technologies that enable more and more types of agricultural and urban waste to become commercially-viable biofuel.
Explore this site and find out more about Novozymes’ amazing biosolutions and how they advance the first-generation, starch-based fuel ethanol industry. Learn more about Novozymes’ bioinnovations and second-generation cellulosic solutions at our bioenergy website, bioenergy.novozymes.com.