Oct 20 2010
Novozymes, a Danish industrial enzymes producing company, has declared that it will associate and work along with Petrobras, a Brazilian company to formulate new ways for developing advanced bioethanol by utilizing sugarcane bagasse. The current agreement deals with the processes of developing and producing enzymes to formulate ethanol from second generation cellulosic ethanol produced from bagasse by utilizing an enzymatic procedure.
Petrobras has been forming on the biochemical procedures since 2006 to produce ethanol from sugarcane bagasse, a left over product after crushing and extracting the juice from the sugarcane stalks. Novozymes is currently engaged in formulating a process to build-up enzymes for the use with such second-generation biofuel. The enzymes will be utilized to split up the biomass into sugars which can be then fermented to form bioethanol. The ethanol produced from bagasse is one among the second-generation biofuels produced from plant waste products such as straw, wood chips and corn cobs instead of utilizing food crops for the purpose. The second-generation ethanol has proved to be as good as any other first-generation bio-ethanol in powering and running the cars.
Poul Andersen, Bioenergy Chief of Novozymes, said that the country of Brazil possess capability to extract over 600 million tons of bioethanol and currently produces only 27 billion liters of ethanol. He added that Petrobras being a main producer of bioethanol in Brazil has the right capability to promote the process. He further said that the technology to produce ethanol from bagasse can boost the ethanol production of the country by 40% without actually increasing the crop cultivation area. He clarified that Petrobras has already built a demo plant for turning bagasse into bioethanol which allows Novozymes to join an existing project. Andersen expressed hope about building up of a commercial level plant and starting the production in a few years time with a capability to produce 5 to 20 million gallons per year.
Source: http://www.novozymes.com/