Chemical Engineering January 2015 - 20

DuPont Industrial Bioscience
Newsfront
says Licht. The result: closer control
of the enzyme, and the product it is
used to make, than ever before.
Alliances
To further improve that control,
and shrink development time, CPI
companies are working more closely
with specialists in biocatalysis to
bring new products to market, while
enzyme manufacturers are working
with experts in genomics and highthroughput
screening. DSM N.V.
(Heerlen, the Netherlands; www.
dsm.com), a leading enzyme supplier,
started this trend back in 2003,
when it entered into a research
agreement with Diversa [now Verenium
Corp. (San Diego, Calif.; www.
verenium.com), which became part
of BASF in 2013].
In addition to Novozymes and
DSM, industrial enzyme suppliers
include DuPont, which bought
Danisco's business in 2011, including
the innovation-driven Genencor,
founded in 1982 as a venture between
Genentech and Corning. Also
active is BASF SE (Ludwigshafen,
Germany; www.basf.com), which acquired
Henkel's detergents enzyme
business last year. The company
has linked up with Dyadic and Verenium,
providing access to new discovery,
expression and production
platforms and an expanded genetic
library based on organisms from extremely
diverse environments.
Biofuels
Today, biofuels are a major CPI
focus for industrial enzymes. In
December, Novozymes introduced
Eversa, the first enzyme process
designed to convert waste cooking
oils into biodiesel. This had been
too difficult in the past, since many
waste vegetable oils, apart from
soy, palm and rapeseed, contain
levels of free fatty acids that are
too high to work in conventional
conversion processes.
Currently, ethanol dominates activities
in the biofuels enzyme sector,
while detergents and pharmaceuticals
are also key markets.
One surprise, given decades of
stops and starts, has been the growing
global demand for ethanol and
the enzymes that are used to proFigure
2. This 30-million-gal biorefinery in Nevada, Iowa is expected to start up
this quarter
cess it. " In 2015, we are expecting
an export market of over 1 billion
gallons, " says Jack Rogers, global
marketing manager for biofuels at
Novozymes North America. Last
year, the figure was around 650-700
million gal, and it was 300 million
gal the previous year, he says.
Novozymes started up a corn biofuels
enzyme facility in Blair, Neb.
in 2011, and has developed enzymes
that improve ethanol yield from
corn. Over the past three years, Novozymes
has introduced three new
enzymes for ethanol production:
Advantec, to improve conversion
and hydrolysis; Spirazyme Achieve,
a fiber-degrading glycoamylene,
to release additional starch, and
Olexa, designed to improve corn
oil recovery by breaking down the
binding oleozyme protein, explains
Novozymes' Rogers.
Using the three enzymes together
can increase ethanol yield from corn
by up to 5%, boost corn oil extraction
by 13% and energy savings by 8%,
allowing customers to make more
from less and substantially improve
profit margins, according to Andrew
Fordyce, executive vice president
for Business Operations. For a typical
100-million-gal feed-grade corn
ethanol plant in the U.S., that could
translate into 45,000 tons of corn
saved while maintaining the same
ethanol output, generating up to $5
million in additional profits.
But corn is not the only possible
feedstock. Recently, manufacturers
have started up plants that will supply
cellulosic ethanol, derived from
agricultural waste, to fuel and other
markets. Examples include DuPont
Industrial Biosciences' 30-milliongal
biorefinery in Nevada, Iowa
(Figure 2), which is expected to
start up this quarter, Novozyme's
joint venture (JV) facility with Beta
Renewables in Crescentino, Italy,
which started up in October 2013
20 ChemiCal engineering www.Chemengonline.Com JanUarY 2015
(Figure 1), POET-DSM's JV plant in
Emmetsburg, Iowa, and Abengoa's
plant in Hugoton, Kan.
The ethanol market is following
different growth tracks in the U.S.
and globally. Where ethanol demand
in the U.S. has matured to about
10% of the gasoline market, exports
are going strong, particularly to
Asia, Europe and Latin America,
says Novozymes' Rogers.
Environmental pressures are
driving some of that growth, he says,
but most of the increased demand
currently stems from market economics.
" The cost benefit of ethanol
versus blended gasoline has reached
record levels internationally, " says
Rogers, ranging from being " on par "
to gasoline, to $1 less per gallon.
Observers have questioned
whether lower oil prices in the U.S.
and potential cutbacks in U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA;
Washington, D.C.) biofuel mandates
might have an impact on future demand
for cellulosic ethanol. Purdue
University (West Lafayette, Ind.)
agroeconomics professor Wallace
Tyner, for one, in a recent article
in Technology Review, has asked
whether the entire market might
vanish in the future.
Consumer products
Meanwhile, enzyme manufacturers
are betting on continued consumer
preference for products and processes
that have less impact on the
environment. This trend is occurring,
not only in developed markets but in
emerging economies with growing
young, middle-class populations.
In addition, suppliers are passing
along to their customers the ability
to control and customize enzyme
use to tailor products for specific
applications. In October 2014, Novozymes
launched a multi-enzyme
solution called Medley to the European
market, targeting the needs
http://www.dsm.com http://www.verenium.com http://www.basf.com http://www.Chemengonline.Com
Chemical Engineering January 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Chemical Engineering January 2015
