Moving advanced biofuels along the path to full-scale commercialization – and the world toward a more affordable clean fuel for our cars, buses, and trucks – yesterday Novozymes unveiled its latest innovation, Novozymes Cellic® CTec3.

Cellic CTec3

The enzyme enables cost-efficient conversion of biomass to ethanol and performs 1.5 times better than Novozymes’ previous market-leading product, Cellic CTec2. Using Cellic CTec3, biofuel producers need only one-fifth of the enzyme dose compared to competing enzymes. Cellic CTec3 allows the cost of producing ethanol from biomass to approach the level of corn ethanol and gasoline.

“The first plants start commercial production of advanced biofuels this year,” says Novozymes’ CEO Steen Riisgaard. “Novozymes has signed supply deals with a number of the leading players in this field, and we’re thrilled to supply the enzymes that will enable an advanced biofuels industry and contribute to job creation, economic growth, and energy security.

"With our new product, Cellic CTec3, and the first plants starting commercial production, this is a huge step forward in the transition from an oil-based economy to a bio-based economy. We will continue to develop more efficient enzymes to further reduce the total cost of producing advanced biofuels.”

Learn more about biofuels on stateofgreen.com

Novozymes’ partners to start commercial production this year

Among the first-movers are M&G and Fiberight. Both companies will use Cellic CTec3 in their operations and are set to begin production this year.

“With Cellic CTec3 Novozymes again demonstrates its unique ability to deliver timely innovation, which we are using to build the world’s largest advanced biofuel plant,” says Guido Ghisolfi, Vice President of M&G Group.

“Novozymes helped us show the world that it really is possible to turn municipal solid waste into valuable biofuel,” says Craig Stuart-Paul, CEO of Fiberight.

Advanced biofuels are produced from cellulose in biomass such as wheat straw, corn stalks, household waste, or energy crops such as switchgrass. The biomass is first broken down into a pulp. Enzymes are then added, turning the pulp into sugar that can be fermented into fuels, feed, and chemicals.

Highly effective, it takes only 50 kg of Cellic CTec3 to make 1 ton of ethanol from biomass. By comparison, it requires at least 250 kg of a competing enzyme product to make the same amount of ethanol.

Global production capacity of ethanol from cellulose is estimated to reach about 15 million gallons in 2012 and 250 million gallons in 2014. A recent study by Bloomberg New Energy Finance estimates that the advanced biofuels industry has the potential to create millions of jobs, economic growth, and energy security worldwide.

Source: Novozymes

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