Novozymes, Danish biotech giant, today announced the acquisition of microbial research company Organobalance GmbH for an undisclosed amount. Germany-based Organobalance owns a large collection of microbial strains, some of which date back to the 1920s, and has strong capabilities in microbial screening and assay technology. It specializes in developing natural microbial solutions for customers and partners across a number of industries including food, feed, and animal health.
Danish Dong Energy and Novozymes have agreed that Novozymes will deliver enzymes for the coming REnescience plant in Northwich in the North West of England. It will be the first full-scale bio plant in the world capable of handling household waste by means of enzymes.
Novozymes, Danish industrial biotech giant, announces the formation of three divisions: Household Care & Technical Industries, Agriculture & Bioenergy and Food & Beverages.
The aim of the organizational change – the company writes in a note – is to enhance Novozymes’ ability to deliver more innovation to customers with more speed and commercial impact.
Novozymes today announced the launch of Avantec® Amp, an advanced enzyme product that improves yield and throughput in corn ethanol production, while increasing corn oil extraction and significantly reducing the need for several harsh chemicals used in ethanol production. By switching from standard enzyme technology to Avantec Amp, a typical ethanol plant with a capacity of 110 million gallons can make up to $2.5 million a year in additional net profits.
Adisseo, a world leader in nutritional solutions and additives for animal feed, and Novozymes have entered into a partnership to develop and market probiotics for poultry.
As part of the 2nd Annual Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) Forum, a new multi-stakeholder coalition, co-chaired by the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and the Roundtable on Sustainable Biomaterials (RSB), announced last week its intention to speed up the development and deployment of sustainable bioenergy in order to contribute to meeting the SE4ALL goals of doubling the global use of renewable energy and ensuring universal energy access by 2030.
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 (sawdust or wood dust is a by-product of the forestry industry and is composed of fine particles of wood) 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.
Chemical giant Basf has decided to exit the current R&D collaboration with Novozymes and Cargill to develop a bio-based process for producing 3-hydroxypropionic (3-HP) and acrylic acid from renewable raw materials.
Denmark’s Novozymes , the world’s largest enzymes producer, will stick to its plans to develop transportation fuel made from agricultural waste, despite an oil price rout that has left oil-based products cheaper for consumers. Some analysts have expressed concern that a lower crude oil price might dampen investor interest in alternatives, but Novozymes said on Thursday that it aims to provide enzymes to 15 advanced bioethanol plants by 2017, up from five, generating 1 billion Danish crowns ($165.7 million) in revenue.
BASF, Cargill and Novozymes announced the achievement of another milestone in their joint development of technologies to produce acrylic acid from renewable raw materials. The team has demonstrated the successful conversion of 3-hydroxypropionic acid (3-HP) to glacial acrylic acid and superabsorbent polymers. Moreover they have selected the process for further scale-up.
IL BIOECONOMISTA 