Purple Haze: New enzyme technologies aiming for oil parity with new feedstockase and woodstockase for biofuels

In the classic novella Animal Farm, a farm run by a collective of animals runs into trouble after the leadership discovers, and develops, an insatiable appetite for fermented sugars, the form of whiskey. But a loyal workhorse, Boxer, responds to every demand from the pigs for “more product!” with “I will work harder!”.

So it seems with enzymes — in recent days, new product releases from Novozymes, Genencor and Verenium — and news from the research labs of the University of Central Florida — have shown that enzyme technologies will continue to play a leading role in short-term and long-term innovations that are driving down the costs of biofuel production.

(For those newer to biofuels, enzymes are proteins that catalyze the conversion of feedstock — such as mashed-up corn stover — into a simple sugar (that can then be fermented into a biofuel). Bite into a Saltine sometime and after a moment you’ll taste something sugary, not salty — those are enzymes at work, converting cracker starch into sugars. Enzymes are omnipresent — used to separate coffee cherries from beans, used in detergents to separate oils from linens. Enzymes gone wild are – apparently – responsible for human stuttering, and play a major role in the propagation of disease in the human body.

In the world of bioprocessing, enzymes are generally named after the feedstock – known as a substrate — with -ase added. Enzymes for cellulose – cellulase; for pectin – pectinase, and so on. There are a zillion feedstockases and woodstockases).

For those who have been wondering why “cellulosic ethanol is always, always, always five years away”, it generally has come down to enzyme costs. Scientists have known for years how the process of converting hemicellulose to biofuel works. Getting the costs down to parity with gasoline has been another matter. The reaction time of enzymes has been a major stumbling block — faster, more thorough enzymes lead to more throughput per ton of steel, ton of biomass and acre of land.

It has been the difficulty in improving enzymes that stimulated much activity in enzyme-bypass strategies known as consolidated bioprocessing – microbes that convert cellulose directly to alcohols, by passing the middle enzymatic step. But CBP systems have run into their own pesky productivity challenges – and teams at Qteros, Mascoma, Amyris, LS9 and elsewhere are trying to speed up their microbes as well.

“What we’re going to have to do at a global scale is create a new system,” Bill Gates told the audiences at TED earlier this month when considering the world of 2050 and its energy needs, “So we need energy miracles.”

Let’s review some recent miracles in enzyme productivity.

Yesterday, researchers at the University of Central Florida have announced a new process for production of low-cost enzymes for cellulosic ethanol production in the current issue of  Plant Biotechnology Journal. The research team led by Dr. Henry Daniell, using enzyme cocktails derived from plants, including pectinase and xylase. The process cloned genes from wood-rotting fungi or bacteria and produced enzymes in tobacco plants. Producing the enzymes in tobacco instead of manufacturing synthetic versions could reduce the cost of production by a thousand times, according to Daniell.

Last week, Genencor announced the introduction of Accellerase DUET, featuring a 300 percent + increase in enzyme yields. With improved overall hemicellulase activity, Accellerase  DUET builds on the advances in beta-glucosidase and cellulase activity previously made by Accellerase 1500.
These additional improvements allow Accellerase DUET to achieve higher sugar and biofuel yields, often at 3-fold lower dosing, and to be feedstock- and pretreatment- flexible.  Accellerase DUET employs a whole broth formulation, which provides nutrients for fermentative organisms and lowers the chemical load introduced into our customers’ processes.  Higher performance at lower dose will lead to significant improvements in enzyme cost in use for producers, which is critical to enable the cellulosic biofuels industry. Genencor supplies the Accellerase product line as part of its strategy to drive the cellulosic ethanol industry forward.  It is a critical component of Danisco’s two-pronged approach, which includes its dedicated Genencor biomass enzyme business, and its joint venture DuPont Danisco Cellulosic Ethanol LLC (DDCE), which develops and provides integrated technology packages for biomass to ethanol production.

Also last week, Novozymes announced that productivity increases with its new Cellic CTec2 enzymes have brought enzyme costs down to 50 cents per gallon, and will enable the biofuel industry to produce cellulosic ethanol at a price below USD 2.00 per gallon for the initial commercial-scale plants that are scheduled to be in operation in 2011. This cost is on par with gasoline and conventional ethanol at the current US market prices. Marketing Director Poul Anderson confirmed that the company would be using a cocktail of 5-7 enzymes for its customers, and that the optimization process would take from 2-12 months per customer, but could be completed during the overall cellulosic ethanol production plant. Anderson confirmed that the enzymes will be produced at the company’s proposed Nebraska facility.

Earlier last week, Verenium announced the introduction of Xylathin, a highly active enzyme designed to significantly improve the economics of ethanol production from cereal grains. Xylathin rapidly breaks down xylan, a compound found in cereal grains such as wheat, rye and barley and significantly reduces mash viscosity. This faster acting enzyme allows producers to shorten retention times and reduce enzyme dose. Xylathin also reduces grain water retention lowering grain drying energy requirements. The main markets for Xylathin are Europe and Canada, which are the largest global regions that process wheat into fuel ethanol.

At the beginning of the month, Royal Dutch Shell announced an MOU with Cosan (CZZ) to make the largest investment in the history of biofuels, with an agreement to establish a 50-50 Brazilian ethanol joint venture with Cosan which will own 4,500 retail stations, sugar, ethanol, fuel distribution and power generation, and the Shell aviation fuel distribution business.  The companies said that they plan to increase the venture’s ethanol production levels from 529 Mgy to 1323 Mgy, which would make the venture one of the top three ethanol producers in the world, after Archer Daniels Midland and POET in the US. One of Shell’s secret weapons? It’s investment in Codexis, an enzyme maker which has licensed the C1 platform from Dyadic.

What does it all mean?

1. Cellulosic ethanol will be produced at parity with gasoline (based on $80 oil) as soon as biofuel producers can get commercial-scale facilities erected, tested and into production. Not an overnight proposition, if you’ve been through a county permitting process any time in the past century, but more than 50 advanced biofuels projects are underway and many of them will be using enzymes from Genecor, Novozymes or Verenium (note: Genencor is a JV partner in Dupont Danisco Cellulosic Ethanol). Look for parity in 2012.

2. Disruptive innovations in uses for for, and productivity rates of, enzymes should be expected for some time. The introduction of Accellerase and Cellic CTec2 is not the end, the beginning of the end, or the end of the beginning. It is just the beginning of a very long inning.

3. Control of innovative enzyme platforms will continue to be a factor in strategic acquisitions. Shell has put some cards on the table with the Cosan deal – how will other national oil companies – such as PetroVietnam, PetroChina or Petrobras respond? Or independent oil companies such as BP, which has a major investment in Verenium up for renewal this month? Or grain-side ethanol majors such as Archer Daniels Midland? The opportunity to lock down large sugarcane assets in Brazil has proven mighty tempting for many. Similar deals for large scale US, African and Asian assets can and should be expected by those with ready access to future streams of enzyme productivity improvement, as the race for parity begins its long, slow close, and the race for scale begins.

More Coverage on this Topic

• Low-cost cellulosic ethanol enzyme production technique announced by Florida team
• Chain, Chain, Chain – Chain of Fuels: Mascoma, Sud-Chemie on short path to parity with gasoline
• Cost of producing biofuels enzymes higher than assumed: researchers
• Lignol wins $2.06M award from SDTC for cellulosic ethanol
• “Pyrolysis part of Topsector Policy in The Netherlands.”
• SEKAB’s cellulosic ethanol pilot to shut down in Sweden: finance woes
• Energy, water breakthrough: Genencor enzymes extracting water from distillers grains
• Statoil to distribute cellulosic ethanol from Borregaard

Tags: CBP, cellulosic ethanol, enzymes

Category: News Analysis, Top Stories