Novozymes Enzymes to Make Cheap Cane Ethanol in Brazil

Bloomberg BusinessWeek
October 04, 2011, 12:21 PM EDT
By Stephan Nielsen

Oct. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Novozymes A/S, the world’s biggest maker of industrial enzymes, said its biotechnology will be able to produce ethanol from sugar-cane waste in Brazil cheaper than fuel made from the plant’s juice.

Novozymes’s enzymes will be used to produce ethanol for 1.20 reais (64 cents) a liter in 2013, about 12 percent less than current prices, said the Bagsvaerd, Denmark-based enzyme company’s global marketing director Poul Ruben Andersen.

Bagasse, as the pulpy waste material is called, is often burned to produce power, and may also become a significant source of renewable fuel, said Salim Morsy, an analyst at Bloomberg New Energy Finance’s New York office.

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