Yield discovery enzymes used to produce more than one-third of U.S. fuel ethanol
Bioenergy sales enjoyed strong growth during 2014, and this was mainly driven by continued positive penetration of Novozymes' yield discovery solutions, Avantec®, Spirizyme® Achieve and Olexa®. In Q3, sales were up by 23% in LCY compared with the first nine months of 2013.
In October, Novozymes launched Medley, a set of five ready-made, pre-stabilized enzyme blends for liquid detergents - the first ever blend of enzymes introduced for the broad detergent market. Targeting small and mid-size detergent producers, the Medley solutions are composed with more than 50 years' experience, and can simplify production, free up working capital and save money - all while producing a more efficient detergent.
Cellulosic biofuel - on the brink of commercialization
On December 17th, Raízen announced that they have been producing biofuel at their first cellulosic ethanol unit in Brazil since November. Novozymes developed the enzyme technology optimized for Raízen's process. 2014 has been an important year for cellulosic biofuel. In September, LIBERTY, the U.S.'s first commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol plant, was inaugurated, and later that month, Brazil's GranBio began production at Bioflex 1, the first commercial-scale advanced biofuels plant in the Southern Hemisphere.
Novonesis A/S (formerly Novozymes A/S) is the world's leading producer of enzymes and microorganisms for industrial companies. Net sales break down by market as follows:
- industry of cleaning and household maintenance products (28.5%);
- bioenergy (24.8%);
- food industry and human health (22.1%);
- technical and cereal industries (12.8%): microorganisms used in the field of wastewater treatment, technical enzymes intended for the textile, leather, pulp and paper industries;
- agriculture and animal feed industry (11.8%): enzymes used to improve the productivity and digestion of certain foods.
Net sales are geographically distributed as follows: Denmark (1.3%), Europe/Middle East/Africa (33.5%), North America (33.9%), Asia/Pacific (18.5%) and Latin America (12.8%).