Novozymes predicts explosive growth in biofuels from agricultural waste

Danish industrial enzymes producer Novozymes A/S’ big growth driver in the future will come from its enzyme technology for producing fuel from agricultural waste, demand for which it expects to explode globally over the next decade. “This market will become extremely big,” Benny Loft, Novozymes chief finance officer told Dow Jones. Novozymes, created as a spin off in 2000 from Danish insulin giant Novo Nordisk AS in 2000, today has roughly half of the US$4 billion global enzymes market. It also invests heavily in researching and advancing market-ready enzymes to produce second-generation bioethanol. “A very key part of the biomass process is the enzyme which can break down the cellulose in corn stalks or other types of plant waste to get the sugar out with which to produce ethanol,” Loft said. That waste-based second generation biofuel market could completely change the industrial biotech and enzymes industry, he said, “and this could also cause Novozymes to transform into something totally different.” (November 18, 2011)