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Cars that run on fuel produced from biomass such as plant waste are a realistic possibility within the foreseeable future. Novozymes is conducting intensive research into this very technology and entered into new collaboration agreements in both the USA and China in 2006. But the potential for substituting crude oil with biomass goes beyond just bioethanol – Novozymes is also researching enzymes which may eventually make it possible to produce the likes of plastics from plant material.
The bioethanol that we can currently put into our cars is made either from starch, primarily maize (corn) or wheat, or from sugar (from sugar cane or sugar beet). But several companies are intensively researching the production of fuels from biomass instead, with the result that we are now distinguishing between two different generations of bioethanol:
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First-generation bioethanol is produced from starch from crops that could also be used as food, such as maize and wheat.
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Second-generation bioethanol is produced from cellulosic biomass, such as sawdust and agricultural waste like leaves and straw.
USA leads the way
The USA in particular is leading the way in producing and developing the market for biofuels. This is due in part to the country’s huge expanses of farmland, which are increasingly being used to grow crops specifically for the biofuel industry. There is also a sharp political focus in the USA on making the country’s energy supply less dependent on oil.
Biofuels have environmental benefits too in the form of lower CO2 emissions than conventional petrol (gasoline) derived from crude oil. These gains will be even greater with second-generation technology, as a larger part of the plant material can be used.
Focus on new technology
Enzymes are an essential part of the process of producing bioethanol from starch. Novozymes’ latest enzymes offer very high yields in the form of sugar to turn into fuel.
However, first-generation bioethanol has its limitations. There is, quite simply, a limit to just how much farmers can produce. Even if they manage to get more out of the soil and more out of their crops, there still needs to be enough left to feed both people and animals. A report from the US National Corn Growers Association shows, for example, that bioethanol from starch and sugar can meet no more than 10% of North America’s fuel consumption. The current level is 3%.
There is therefore strong interest in second-generation technology, where enzymes turn biomass into sugars that can be used to produce bioethanol, as there are larger quantities of biomass available, in the form of straw, stalks (stover) and other waste from agricultural production, than there are of edible crops. The challenge with the new technology is that it is very difficult to break down and convert the cellulose in straw into sugars. In 2006 Novozymes entered into new collaborations with US, Chinese and Danish partners to develop the technology for second-generation biofuels. We estimate that bioethanol from biomass could be on the market within four or five years.
Bio-based materials
However, the possibilities for using plants as an alternative to finite oil resources go well beyond this. In principle, other oil-based products such as plastics and artificial fibres could be produced in a similar way to bioethanol.
As with fuels, it will be possible to make bio-based materials either from starch and sugar or from biomass. It is naturally the latter process which has the greatest potential, as the use of biomass means that more raw materials will be available. It is also good for the environment to be able to use a larger part of the plants from agricultural production. | 