Novozymes to supply world's first sawdust-based biofuel refinery

DENMARK — The world’s first facility to produce cellulosic ethanol from sawdust will use Novozymes’ customized enzymes. With an annual capacity of 10 million liters, the plant represents an expected investment of around €40 million.

Novozymes announced a deal to supply enzyme technology to a new biorefinery that will be built by St1 Biofuels in Kajaani, Finland. The facility will be co-located at a sawmill site, and will be the first facility in the world to use sawdust from softwood as feedstock to produce cellulosic ethanol at commercial scale. The process uses steam-explosion to open up the cellulosic structures of the sawdust, followed by enzymatic hydrolysis to extract the sugars for ethanol fermentation.

“I am delighted that our enzymes have been chosen for this pioneering project in Finland,” says Sebastian Søderberg, Vice President of Biomass Conversion at Novozymes. “It marks an important step for Finland and other countries around the world that have ample softwood supplies.”

Cellulosic ethanol made from softwood: The new plant marks the potential for commercial scale production of cellulosic ethanol in regions where plenty of softwood is available, notably the Northern Hemisphere. Softwood comes from trees like pine that have needles instead of leaves.

The plant will initially produce 10 million liters (2.7 million gallons) of cellulosic ethanol per year, but can be scaled up to annual output of 50 to 100 million liters. Total investment is expected to be €40 million of which an investment grant will cover 30%. Construction is scheduled to begin in the second half of 2015, with production expected to start in 2016.

“Northern Europe has a large industrial sector based on forestry, and this opens up many possibilities,” Sebastian Søderberg says. “The biomass and specialist knowledge is available here, and the long-term political framework is in place in Finland, which all works together to enable the commercial production of cellulosic ethanol based on softwood.”

“I am pleased to have Novozymes as enzyme technology supplier. The collaboration is key in optimizing our production costs that is one of the key elements in commercial cellulosic ethanol production,” says Mika Aho, Managing Director at St1 Biofuels.

Investment supports the ambitious targets for biofuels in Finland
The construction of the biorefinery supports Finland’s climate and energy strategy. The country has implemented a mandate to increase the share of renewable energy in transport up to 20% by 2020.

The plant will be constructed and operated by St1 Biofuels using the company’s proprietary pre-treatment and process technologies called Cellunolix®. It is owned by North European Bio Tech Oy (NEB), and the production capacity of the plant will be leased to North European Oil Trade Oy (NEOT). The Finnish investor, NEB, is an associated company of SOK Corporation and energy company St1 whose purpose is to invest in biofuel production units.

NEOT is sister company to NEB, and it is the most significant independent fuel supply company in the Baltic Sea region. It delivers fuels to major Nordic service station chains – ABC, St1 and Shell – with a total of 1,500 service stations in Finland, Sweden and Norway.

The agreement between St1 Biofuels and Novozymes is not expected to impact Novozymes’ financial outlook for 2015.

About Novozymes

As the world leader in bioinnovation we believe that by using industrial biotechnology we can potentially re-engineer thousands of everyday products to deliver enhanced sustainability performance, introducing energy cost savings, and decreased raw material costs for our customers. It is a compelling proposition, but one backed by strong evidence.

Novozymes’ biosolutions enable everything from the removal of trans fats in food to advancements in renewable energy sources. Our never-ending exploration of nature’s potential is evidenced by over 6,000 patents – an indication of what is possible when nature and technology join forces in biotechnology, and we are continuously and proactively seeking partners to license or inlicense patents within our interest areas.

Our 6,200+ employees working in research, production, and sales around the world are committed to shaping the businesses of today and the world of tomorrow.

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