Denmark-based enzyme manufacturer Novozymes continues to advance its plans to produce commercial-scale ready enzymes for cellulosic ethanol production by 2010. The company broke ground for a large production facility in Blair, Neb. on March 24 and plans to use the facility to produce enzymes for both first and second generation ethanol. The company doubled its original investment for the facility in order to work to meet its goal of producing commercial-ready enzymes by next year and is expecting to spend $200 million on the property.
Alfa Laval, a Swedish provider of specialized heat transfer, separation and fluid handling products, announced it has received a 6 million dollar order for membranes and heat exchangers to be used at the Blair facility. The equipment will be used to concentrate enzymes for further use in the production of starch-based ethanol, according to Alfa Laval, and is set to be delivered in 2010. Alfa Laval president and chief executive officer Lars Renström said the company has delivered similar equipment to the recently-opened Novozymes production facility in Jiangsu, China. “This order shows that our recently developed ultra filtration membranes have proven their efficiency within the enzyme industry,” he said.
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California biotechnology company Verdezyne Inc. also announced it has agreed to work with Novozymes to advance enzyme production. According to Verdezyne, the company will work with Novozymes to optimize selected genes that encode industrial enzymes so that they can then be manufactured in microbial systems. Commenting on the new partnership, Verdezyne President and Chief Executive Officer E. William Radany said, “We are looking forward to helping Novozymes meet its program goals and at the same time further demonstrate the value of our industrial biotechnology platform.”
