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Biofuel Production Gets a Bit More Efficient
Novozymes just announced the release of a new enzyme which will increase the efficiency of biofuel production - leading to greater ethanol yields. The enzyme, called Avantec, will allow biofuel producers to get 2.5 percent more ethanol out of their corn inputs. That might not sound like a lot, but it scales well. The typical ethanol plant uses around 900,000 tons of corn, producing 100 million gallons of ethanol. With this new product, producers can use 22,500 fewer tons of corn to achieve the same output - or squeeze out 2.5 million additional gallons of ethanol for the same input. Ethanol futures were up to $2.413/gallon yesterday - making the potential value of the increased efficiency over $6 million. Not too shabby.
3p Publisher Nick Aster gets the full story from Peder Holk Nielsen of Novozymes:
http://youtu.be/WWnB-Xasl3E
Jen Boynton is the former Editor-in-Chief of TriplePundit. She has an MBA in Sustainable Management from the Presidio Graduate School and has helped organizations including SAP, PwC and Fair Trade USA with their sustainability communications messaging. She is based in San Diego, California. When she's not at work, she volunteers as a CASA (court appointed special advocate) for children in the foster care system. She enjoys losing fights with toddlers and eating toast scraps. She lives with her family in sunny San Diego.
