Frequently asked questions

What activities has Novozymes conducted in the area of biomass?

In 2001, in conjunction with the US Department of Energy (DoE) and the National Renewable Energy Labs (NREL), Novozymes was awarded a subcontract for “Cellulase Cost Reduction for Bioethanol.” The stated goal of this subcontract was a 10-fold enzyme cost reduction to hydrolyze pretreated corn stover into simple sugars. The subcontract lasted four years, ending in February 2005, and was funded at USD 17.8 million (matching funds). Upon completion of the contract, Novozymes in conjunction with NREL announced a 30-fold enzyme cost reduction in the conversion of pretreated corn stover to ethanol. Read the full press release for more information.

More recently, in February 2008, the U.S. Department of Energy has again selected Novozymes to participate in a project to further develop enzymes for cellulosic ethanol production. Novozymes’ Project DECREASE (Development of a Commercial-Ready Enzyme Application System for Ethanol) aims to improve the performance of Novozymes’ most advanced cellulase system, further decreasing the cost of cellulosic ethanol production. Read the full press release for more information.

What’s next for Novozymes in the biomass-to-ethanol arena?
Novozymes is committed to participating in the development of an economically viable solution for the conversion of lignocellulosic biomass to ethanol. This will require a focus on process integration through collaboration with key partners in the ethanol industry as well as further enzyme development. Besides working with leading industry partners, Novozymes plans to continue participating in public funding opportunities as a preferred technology partner.

What is the cost of your new enzymes for biomass conversion?
Reducing the cost of enzymes for the conversion of lignocellulosic materials (biomass) to simple sugars has been a major undertaking for Novozymes over the past decade. During this time, Novozymes has developed new cellulases and cellulase blends, and developed a better understanding of the full production process and related technologies – both upstream and downstream of the enzymatic hydrolysis. The result: new cellulases and enzyme blends which offer significant benefits and improved economies – as well as a better understanding of the interaction between various production technologies and processes on enzyme dosage, effectiveness, and overall production economics.

Novozymes is now providing these enzymes (developed specifically for biomass conversion) to the industry – targeting companies which are moving from lab-scale to pilot-scale or even demonstration-scale production. The benefits offered by Novozymes’ new products include lower dosages and/or higher conversion rates both of which lower overall enzyme costs. Novozymes' biomass enzymes are priced by the unit (kg) – as conversion costs (e.g., $/gallon ethanol) vary considerably depending on the substrate, pretreatment, and downstream fermentation technology. Exact enzyme costs can only be calculated for well defined substrates and process parameters that have undergone rigorous lab testing.
   
Further process development and integration combined with improved enzymes are needed before conversion of biomass to biofuels becomes a commercial success. To achieve this, Novozymes has embarked on a major R&D, enzyme production, and business development effort. Novozymes currently has more than 100 researchers dedicated to bioethanol – and collaborates with leading industry partners on developing and integrating process technologies with our new enzymes and enzyme blends. Novozymes will have the enzymes ready for commercial production of cellulosic ethanol by 2010 – and we believe that 2011 will be the year when we see full-scale commercial cellulosic ethanol plants beginning to operate.

How important is process integration?
Development of pretreatment and fermentation technologies in conjunction with enzymatic hydrolysis is critical for enabling a commercially viable process for production of cellulosic ethanol. Process integration is often ignored in biomass-to-ethanol process development efforts. But effective process integration can greatly improve enzyme performance and overall biomass-processing costs.

Process integration means taking a holistic view on pretreatment, enzymatic hydrolysis, and fermentation – as each of these steps impact the next Pretreatment is perhaps the biggest technical challenge left in the conversion of biomass to simple sugars. Pretreatment methods need to strike a balance between capital and operating costs, enzyme and fermentation digestibility and toxicity, and yield and/or loss of C5/C6 sugars. Novozymes has an intensive effort underway within this area – to develop technologies that facilitate more efficient hydrolysis and fermentation of cellulosic biomass. Such improved and integrated processes will be a key contributor to lower enzyme costs – and not least to lower costs overall.

What does Novozymes do to further reduce enzyme costs?

In Novozymes we continue our work on reducing the specific price of enzymes used for cellulosic ethanol From an R&D perspective our efforts include the development of enzymes with higher specific activity, and/or increased thermostability, pH tolerance, etc. Our R&D efforts also focus on improving the understanding of different enzyme combinations to maximize cellulose and hemicellulose hydrolysis. Finally, our efforts to reduce enzyme production costs include evaluation of low-cost fermentation feedstocks, efforts to increase fermentation yields, development of simpler enzyme recovery processes, as well as determining the most appropriate locations for enzyme production. 

In Novozymes we a proud to say that our R&D, production and business development efforts are on track to deliver commercially feasible enzymes and enzyme-related technologies for cellulosic ethanol production in 2010.

What are the ethanol yields from biomass?
Though the numbers will vary considerably with different substrates and/or processes, a rough estimate of the potential yield (assuming efficient conversion of the C5 sugars) is: 

Yield = 79 gallons ethanol/dry ton
          = 30 lbs. stover residue/gallon

(Compared to grain:

Yield  = 114 gallons ethanol/dry ton
           = 18 lbs. DDG/gallon)

What products can you make from biomass other than ethanol? (Does Novozymes have experience in this area?)
The goal of biomass hydrolysis is to generate a cheaper and more readily abundant source of sugars for subsequent fermentation. While Novozymes has focused primarily on the biomass-to-ethanol process, the ultimate payoff of these efforts will be to generate an inexpensive source of sugars for use as a feedstock for a range of fermentation products. The list of potential products is long and includes plastics (PLA, 1,3 PPD) and chemical feedstocks (e.g., succinic acid, 1,4-butanediol, and ethyl lactate). Recently, biobutanol has made the news as another potential biofuel.

When will the economics of biomass to ethanol become commercially feasible?
Novozymes expect to be able to supply enzymes for commercially viable cellulosic ethanol production by 2010. We believe production of cellulosic ethanol will become commercially feasible when a number of factors have been adequately addressed. These factors include:

• Methods for large-scale low-cost collection, size reduction, and storage of biomass feedstocks
• Further development of pretreatment technologies with a focus on integrated process cost
• Improvement in enzyme performance and reduction in cost, including enzyme production scale-up
• Process integration of the process steps – Pretreatment, hydrolysis, and fermentation must be developed holistically and tested on a commercial scale
• Global, cross-functional partnerships – with a commitment to building lignocellulosic biomass facilities Continued government support for all of the above – and for establishing pilot and demonstration plants

The numerous development efforts that Novozymes participates in show significant progress and are expected to lead to commercial production of ethanol from various lignocellulosic feedstock by 2011.

Where is Novozymes compared to the competition?
Novozymes is a bioinnovation company. We use biotechnology and provide enzymatic solutions to more than 30 industries around the world. To the biofuel industry Novozymes is developing and producing cutting-edge enzyme technology. While some of our competitors pursue business models that include the development and operation of ethanol plants, we believe that we best serve the biofuel industry by focusing on advancing the necessary enzyme technology. Novozymes believes that the advances made in enzyme development and cost reduction under the DoE/NREL subcontract demonstrate our industry leadership in the development of commercially viable enzyme technologies for lignocellulosic biomass hydrolysis. The DECREASE project (Development of a Commercially Relevant Enzyme Application System for Ethanol), which has been initiated with the DoE, will provide the extra efficiency needed to further decrease enzyme loading – to a point where cellulosic ethanol becomes cost efficient for the industry to produce.

What is the environmental impact of converting biomass materials to ethanol (or other products)?
Besides improving energy security and reducing our dependency on oil, bioethanol has the clear benefit of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the transportation sector. Today first-generation ethanol can reduce GHG emissions by 30–70% – cellulosic ethanol will be able to deliver GHG reductions of up to 90% compared to gasoline. But production of bioethanol faces the same sustainability issues as agriculture in general. These include the impacts of land use change, soil depletion, water use, release of nitrous gases, biodiversity, etc. In Novozymes we believe that biofuel production must be done in a sustainable way – and therefore needs to rest on generally sustainable agricultural practices. Ensuring sustainability will require a concerted effort of the ethanol industry, the agricultural sector, and of policy-makers. In Novozymes we help drive the development of more and more efficient conversion technologies – and we actively participate in certification efforts to ensure sustainable ethanol production.

Using lingocellulosic material – in the form of agricultural residues or dedicated energy crops – has the benefit of producing ethanol with no additional or even less environmental impact. 

The potential substrates for the conversion of lignocellulosic biomass to ethanol are many and the agricultural impact on the environment will vary by substrate agricultural methods used, geographical area, etc. If you want to know more about this, the NREL website
(http://www.nrel.gov/biomass/publications.html) is a good place to start.

What obstacles does Novozymes see in the commercialization of lignocellulose to ethanol technology?
Some of the key challenges include: 

• Feedstock production, collection, delivery, and storage
• An integrated conversion process that includes pretreatment, hydrolysis and a fermentation process able to utilize C5 sugars
• The high barrier to entry as the first commercial facility due (in part) to the high capital costs associated with the construction of a commercial plant

The challenges of being a first mover in an industry that defies conventional capital venture ideology are daunting. The funding needed to move to commercial-scale production does not exist at this time. To bridge this gap will require that governments share the financial risk of designing and building the first generation of commercial facilities. While this is recognized by many governments, long term government policy/funding coherence is (in general) lacking and will be needed to support the development of this industry.

What plans does Novozymes have to work in these areas? At what stage of work are these areas today?
Novozymes’ main focus is in the conversion of lignocellulosic substrates into ethanol. Within the conversion process Novozymes continues to focus on developing enzyme technologies to hydrolyze several potential substrates, while also working to understand the impact of different pretreatment processes and the importance of both pretreatment and hydrolysis on fermentation. The interdependence and ultimate commercial success of biomass to ethanol rests on an understanding and integration of these processing steps. This includes the challenge of also fermenting C5 sugars.

With the help of our industry partners, Novozymes has made significant progress, both in understanding the overall conversion process and in the continued development of the enzyme technology that will allow for efficient and cost-effective biomass conversion.

 What is the preferred method of pretreatment? (What companies are working in the pretreatment area?)
This is an open area of research. Dilute acid pretreatment is well known and is the basis of a lot of research being done within the industry. There are, however, other pretreatments that are well documented and have their own benefits and/or tradeoffs. The preferred method in each case would depend on the economic drivers in the process/company/country. At this point, no clear winner has been identified. In Novozymes we are working with leading industry partners like Broin (see Broin's press release) and ICM (see ICM's press release) – as well as 30 players worldwide that are all building pilot or demo plants.