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Biocatalysts
makers
The world market for industrial enzymes is rapidly growing, stimulated by lower cost
technologies. But growth brings new challenges for the enzyme makers, Sean Milmo reports
The biggest innovations in enzyme technology over the past two decades have come from GM
‘B
iofuels from cellulosics will transform the industrial enzymes business,’ says Peder Holk Nielsen, executive vice-president and head of the enzymes business at Danish firm Novozymes. ‘Once cellulosic biofuels start to be commercialised [on a large scale] there will be a lot of capacity coming onstream needing enzymes,’ he continues. ‘This new capacity will also change the geography of the sector with a lot of the sales being in regions like Latin America.’ The potential of cellulosic biomass-derived fuels is also beginning to entice some of the big oil companies, like Shell, BP and Total, to enter the enzyme business, mainly through joint ventures or partnerships with enzyme technology start-ups. Enzymes are used to convert biomass – carbohydrates – to sugars, and sugars to fuels (alcohols) and other chemicals, just as refineries process oil into fuels and base chemicals. Inevitably, the oil majors will be looking to build a presence in cellulosic biofuels that mirrors their long-established operations in the exploration, production and processing of crude mineral oil. The bulk of the enzyme market currently lies in
detergents and in food processing and is dominated by Novozymes, which has around a half of the global market. DuPont/Genencor has about a fifth market share and DSM, a specialist in yeast catalysis as well as enzyme technologies, has 5–10%. According to Novozymes, the value of the global market for industrial enzymes is €2.6bn ($3.4bn), around 10% of the total catalyst market of $30–35bn. However, once cellulosic fuel production moves beyond the current R&D stage to full commercial outputs of fuels and chemicals, the market could jump to €5–10bn or even higher, with enzymes having a much larger share of the world catalyst sales. For the oil companies interested in cellulosic fuels, their enzyme activities are likely to continue to remain only a tiny part of their operations in a range of energy sources. But for the pure-play enzyme makers, the sudden increase in the world market faces them with the dilemma of whether to expand into related areas such as the supply of engineering for enzyme products or to move downstream by becoming partners in projects for manufacturing products using enzymes.
Technological promise A recent report by the Dutch National Research School for Catalysis (NRSC-Catalysis) estimates that industry