Novozymes gets $12.3M for cellulosic ethanol enzymes
In many ways, commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol production still seems a long way off. It’s still marked by high costs and low efficiencies. But these limitations haven’t dissuaded prominent investors from taking the plunge, with VCs like Khosla Ventures pouring over $400 million into startups like Verenium, Mascoma, Range Fuels and Coskata in recent months.
Even the Department of Energy (DoE) has gotten into the game, granting a $12.3 million contract yesterday to Danish chemicals company Novozymes, whose U.S. headquarters are in Franklinton, N.C., to make enzymes for cellulosic ethanol. Novozymes said it would match the two and a half year grant with $12.3 million of its own cash, raising the total investment on the project to $25 million.
The company, which is embarking on the largest R&D project in its history, will develop enzymes to turn the inedible parts of corn, such as the leaves and stalk, into cellulosic ethanol. The project, called DECREASE (Development of a Commercial-Ready Enzyme Application System for Ethanol), seeks to improve the efficiency of its most advanced enzyme system by two-fold. The DoE hopes to make it cost competitive with gasoline by 2012.
Novozymes received an $18 million award from the DoE in 2001 to develop better enzymes and to improve its biofuel production processes.
Next Story: ArtistData keeps artists’ information in sync across networks
Previous Story: GeoEye-1 sharpens Google’s satellite imagery focus
About the Author, Jeremy Jacquot
Jeremy Jacquot is a doctoral student at the University of Southern California who is studying watershed management and global biogeochemical cycling. He previously studied marine biology at UCLA where he earned his B.S. in 2005; he is the Los Angeles correspondent for TreeHugger, where he focuses on science/technology and business news.