Before we look at what makes Novozymes a company to watch – it is helpful to understand the market transitions occuring in materials science and engineering that drive all major sectors from food to energy to pharmaceuticals.

An Era based Look at Industrialism:
Ores, Hydrocarbons & Semiconductors
The history of industrialism, and our ability to manipulate the interactions of molecules, can be viewed across several major era-based transitions.

The first industrialists used natural materials (dirt/clay, wood, stone),  before turning to heat and reactive additives to transform ores into metals/alloys (copper/bronze/steel).  In the 20th century we turned to modern chemistry and hydrocarbon resources to synthesize polymers/composites (plastics), and then new tools for layering/etching patterns to develop micro-structured semiconductor materials (silicon, et al).

Each era transition created new opportunities for wealth creation, justifications for using power and conflict, and forced us to redefine what is/isn’t a desirable resource.  Today, we are witnessing two significant transitions in our industrial age…

From Micro- to Nano… From Chemical to Biological
The next eras of materials inspired industrialism will be based on nanostructured materials (particularly carbon-based materials), and biologically driven industrial processes. For now, let’s focus on ‘bio’…

By tapping the power of biological systems (e.g. genetics, proteins/enzymes, and metabolic pathways) biotechnology based industrial processes help to lower costs of production, reduce waste (inputs/outputs) and improve manufacturing yields.

Biotechnology based industrial processes give humanity a new way of manipulating the interactions of molecules by tapping billions of years of nature’s trial and error experiences.  And while bioindustrialism does not signal the end of chemical engineering (it to has a bright future!), it certainly gives us a new platform for cheaper and cleaner materials manufacturing, energy production and waste processing.

We are still in the early stages of this transition, but in the world of bio industrial innovation one company stands out…

Why I have a man-crush on Novozymes!
Denmark-based Novozymes is a bioindustrial solutions company that develops enzymes, microorganisms and biomolecules (e.g recombinant DNA) used as ingredients in the manufacturing a wide range of everyday products that span all major industry sectors from consumer products, food, biofuels, to pharmaceuticals.

Founded in the 1920s (alongside Nordisk) Novozymes is the world’s largest producer of  industrial enzymes used in detergents, food, and animal feed products.   But it is showing significant strength in growing its ‘biobusiness‘ solutions for biopharmaceutical, bioenergy and biowaste applications.

Novozyme Divisions: Novozymes Bioenergy; Novozymes BioPharma
Web Presence: Novozymes Blog! NovozymesTV; and yes they are on Twitter!

Related Terms:
Industrial Enzymes; Industrial Biotechnology; Bio Industrialism; Bio Refineries; Bioplastics; Biologics; Biomanufacturing; Bioreactors; Microbial Manufacturing; Proteomics; Protein Engineering; Biomimcry; Bio-utilization; Synthetic Biology

Novozymes Competitors / Biotechnology Industrial Companies:

• Genencor/Danisco
• DuPont’s ‘Renewably Sourced’ Materials
• BASF (Biotech)
• DSM
• Dyadic
• Dow Agro
• Codexis
• Cathay Biotech
• Excluding biopharma / biologics for now…!
• And I could also include dozens of algae/bacteria companies (e.g. Iogen; Mascoma; Synthetic Genomics, et al)– but we’ll save that for another post!
• Wikipedia list of biotechnology companies

Recent news…

• Novozyme’s enzymes can be used to turn waste biomass into liquid fuels and recently received a tax credit to launch an industrial enzyme plant in Nebraska.
• Novozymes and Braskem (Brazil) recently developed an alternative polypropylene used in a wide range of everyday plastics.  Instead of producing polyproplene from oil, we might use sugarcane and other biomass material to create a ‘bioplastic‘.
• The company also announced the first paper waste to biofuel with partner Fiberite

Enzymes 101: Human vs Industrial Applications

The human body uses different types of protein enzymes to function in the world!  Plants and animals also have enzymes that help to break down compounds into usable components.

Enzyme names usually include name of chemical being transformed than end with ~ase; hydrogenase ( lactase breakdown lactose; sucrase breakdown sugar; cellulase breakdown cellulose; hydrogen producing enzyme)

So someone who is lactose intolerant does not have lactase enzymes to breakdown dairy’s lactose molecules!)

But in most cases, these protein enzymes are breaking down compounds that consist of the same ingredients (carbon, hydrogen and oxygen) that are simply arranged in different chemical structures.

Industrial enzymes are proteins designed to facilitate better interactions of molecules.  It’s that simple

Resources

• Learn more about enzymes here
• Learn more about bio industrial technology

Related Novozymes Videos

Adam Monroe, the President of Novozymes North America

Lars Hansen – Novozymes North America

Alan Shaw, President and CEO of Codexis, discusses how biotechnology is driving a new industrial revolution

If you made it this far… one last insight:
novo: Latin, meaning: to make anew, refresh, revive, change, alter, invent.

Forecast & Outlook:  Coal is the world’s fastest growing source of energy and leading fuel source associated with carbon emissions.  There is a two-fold path to rethinking our relationship with coal’s carbon molecules based on ‘Cathedral Thinking‘ and ‘Manhattan Project‘ strategies.  The end result and legacy we might leave future generations is a new capacity to better deal with carbon molecules through nanostructured materials and bio-energy technology solutions that master the fundamental molecular interactions of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen.

Part One: Cathedral Thinking
Duke Energy CEO Jim Rogers is the utility sector’s (coal’s biggest consumer) leading voice associated with the long term approach of Cathedral Thinking. Rogers has been refining his public ‘building cathedrals’ message since a 2007 commencement speech, but was most targeted at energy entrepreneurs during an MIT event in 2008 [video below].

A Cathedral Thinking approach to coal begins with the vision and commitment to realizing a low carbon emission future, then developing the technology strategies and regulatory framework to support efforts that will likely occur across generations of innovators.  Rogers’ guidelines for framing this issue?  ’We need a sense of urgency, but not a sense of panic…a sense of hope, not a sense of fear… politics of possibilities, not the politics of punishment‘.

Rogers is clear that technology will play the critical role in achieving this vision of a low carbon future, but falls short of detailed blueprint or roadmap.  So, if I could propose a few broadly accepted enabling ideas that support a new relationship with carbon.

‘Cathedral Thinking’ Foundations: Geo, Bio and Nano Engineering
Geo-Engineering capacities to support carbon sequestration via capture and storage.  Bio-Engineering capacities based on carbon-fed bioreactors that tap the molecular powerplants inside algae and bacteria to assemble bio-hydrocarbons.  And Nano-scale Materials Engineering capacities using nanotechnology inspired membranes and catalysts that enable coal gasification and/or chemical processes (Fischer-Tropsch) that convert carbon into synthetic fuels.  Together, these are the long-term enablers of reducing carbon emissions from coal.

In Part Two, we will look at a supplemental strategy to ‘Cathedral Thinking’ that brings a higher sense of immediacy via disruptive energy systems supported by a ‘Manhattan Project‘ style effort towards carbon science and engineering.

How might we accelerate changes by shifting investments to basic science and applied engineering of biological and materials technologies that could be more disruptive in giving humanity the knowledge and know-how of mastering the molecular interactions of carbon to avoid CO2 atmospheric release?!

MIT World talk titled:
Building Technology, Talent and Policy Bridges to a Low-Carbon Future (April 12, 2008)
[Video [47 minutes]

Newsweek article: Cathedral Thinking Interview by Fareed Zakira
[Reprinted with permission via Duke Energy]

Related Blog Post by Jim Meredith

Duke Energy – Executive Viewpoints

Build Your Own Cathedral Queens University Commencement Speech Transcript [PDF]

MIT Report on Coal

US EIA Coal Report 2009

Coal: Some Inconvenient Truth [PDF] by Geologist David Hughes

Articles from The Energy Roadmap.com

Forecast & Outlook: Our evolving knowledge base and capacity to design molecular manufacturing systems will be a primary driver of social and economic change in the decades ahead.  Bioindustrialism and the Nanoscale design of carbon-based structures are two ‘game-changing’ ideas ripe for capital investment and commercial applications. Properly harnessed, carbon bonds are our best eco-friendly building block for improving quality of life and wealth creation in the next century!

Carbon Capitalists of the World Unite!  It is time to move beyond today’s politically and emotionally-charged ‘climate & carbon’ conversation and move towards something more constructive based on bigger ideas, not bigger battles.

The problem isn’t the gap between ‘OECD’ vs ‘Non OECD’ national interests.  The problem is the gap between what many people ‘want to do’ versus what we are able to do based on our current industrial and energy paradigms.

Instead of demonizing carbon we should be embracing it around bigger ideas that remain off the radar of activists, politicians and most business leadership.   We need to make the foresight case that in this century no molecule will be more important than carbon as a source of wealth creation and platform for uplifting the quality of life of people, planet and profits.

Carbon Capitalists of the World Unite… around Bio & Nano!
Capital capitalists are builders not bankers.  There is minimal value created via fees or trading schemes based on carbon pricing mechanisms.  True carbon capitalists see carbon as a resource for building added value products like biomaterials and biofuels.

Carbon capitalists transform the conversation by expanding the marketplace beyond CO2 trading into an industrial and energy era defined by carbon+hydrogen chains assembled for biomaterials and bioenergy, and/or carbon+carbon or carbon+metals for industrial catalysts and high performance materials. 

Carbon capitalists are those people focused on reinventing the physical world and consciously evolving our global industrial paradigms around two 21^st century platforms for prosperity: bio-based industrial processes and nanoscale materials engineering.

Bio Industrialism

The first ‘leap’ for Carbon Capitalists to make is from chemistry to biology.

The great industries of the last century emerged from advances in chemical engineering and materials processing.  Thebirth of modern industries including pharmaceuticals, polymers, to semiconductors were all based on new ‘chemical industrial’ paradigms.  The consumer economy exists only because we have created abundance via synthetic (not naturally occurring) materials.  The ‘information age’ exists only because we created materials that could manipulate electrons and photons.  So your iPhone is as much a triumph of chemical engineering as it is software engineering.

Chemistry is not going away, in fact, its role in the ‘nano’ age is likely to evolve in ways we cannot imagine.  But there is a ‘new kid on the block’ that is capable of changing our industrial base.

Bio Industrialism is a broad concept for any goods (or services) delivered via a biological process or byproducts (e.g. biological agents for low cost pharmaceuticals, algae or cellulosic based biofuel production, et al).   So if chemistry helped give birth to many of our largest 20^th century industries, it is biology that will likely to be the platform for new industries in the 21^st century.  We will explore these new industries in future posts!

[Related fields and concepts: synthetic biology, bio-energy, bio-materials, biologics (biopharmaceuticals), biomechantronics, biomimcry, genomics, proteomics, bioplastics, ‘green chemistry’, biocatalysis, bioimaging, biosensors, et al]

Industrial Age of Nanoscale Materials (From ‘micro’ to ‘nano’)

The second industrial paradigm ‘leap’ is based on a new scale for materials design.  We have reached a plateau in our performance properties of ‘microscale’ (millionth of meters) design to ‘nanoscale’ (billionth of meters) engineering in which we control precise formation of molecules to yield entirely new performance properties of basic elements.

The nanoscale era of materials design redefines what we think of as a ‘resource’.  In this future carbon-carbon bonds can be designed to perform on par with higher cost precious metals.   In this future ‘carbon’ emissions can be re-assembled (and resold in the marketplace) with hydrogen bonds using the metabolism of algae.

Nanotechnology is often sold around more futuristic concepts like ‘nanobot’ machines floating through your bloodstream.  But the near term future is much more sober.

‘Phase One’ for nanoscale materials engineering is based on materials design using: carbon nanotubes, nanoparticles and nanosheets (graphene) in a range of applications from energy production and storage and conversion, high strength composites for light weight airplanes, cars and  textiles, to new ways of building electronic devices from carbon (instead of silicon).

Hype Warnings & Core Assumptions

I want to be clear about my message!  Professional futurists often warn audiences: ‘avoid the mistake of overestimating the amount of change likely to happen in the short term, but avoid a bigger mistake of underestimating how much change might happen in the long-term.’

Today it is easy to dismiss ‘nano’ and ‘bio’ as too futuristic so I want to be clear about two assumptions that I hold quite comfortably at the same time:

1. Neither of these industries (Bio & Nano) will be ‘big’ anytime soon
   Real GDP growth over the next two decades will likely come from old industrial activities (e..g iron-ore/steel, geo-extraction, et al).   Both ‘bio’ and ‘nano’ related industrial activities are operating at early stages of development, and are likely to favor the incumbent platforms in the short-term before they are able to supplant them.  In other words, the first wave of commercialized nanostructured materials (coatings, nano-tubes/particles, et al) are likely to improve performance of old micro-structured materials in the short term.

   So we must adjust our expectations about how fast these industries can grow!   But avoid making the mistake of waiting too long to start as we think of skeptics who dismissed the case for ‘synthetic plastics’ and ‘electronics’ in the 1950s and the ‘Internet’ in the 19990s!

2. Both of these industries will dwarf all historical ‘industries’ known to man
   In the long term, bioidustrialism and nanoscale engineering profits will surpass any and all economic values created by industries that exist today.  They are emerging at the exact right time – as billions of people transition into new demographic phases (e.g. aging) and socio-economic levels (e.g. middle class).  And their impacts are likely to be felt across all industrial sectors from energy, human health/wellness, military, transportation, information technology, et al.

So let’s be clear!

I’m not ‘hyping’ bioindustrialism or nanotechnology in the short term!!  I am trying to open a door for two platforms of wealth creation in the 21st century.

From the standpoint of the ‘carbon conversation’ we need to move forward around bigger ideas, not bigger battles. Bioindustrialism and Nanotechnology are big ideas!

Upcoming posts:

In my next ‘carbon capitalism’ post I will look at companies redefining our industrial base by tapping the power of carbon molecules!

Suggested Readings:

OECD report: The Bioeconomy to 2030 report is available at www.oecd.org/futures/bioeconomy/2030.

The Carbon Age – by Eric Roston http://www.ericroston.com/

Carbon-based nano-materials are on track to becoming a foundation for economic growth for the 21st century.  And the United States could be in the driver’s seat of this age of Carbon Capitalism and rethinking of carbon-based Industrialism!

Manufacturing Eras: Silicon to Carbon
If the 20th century economic revolution of computer-based information technologies was shaped by humankind’s ability to manipulate silicon-based materials, the next fifty years of wealth creation and productivity gains will almost certainly be built upon the material foundation of carbon-carbon bonds.

Carbon nanotubes are long chains of carbon-carbon bonds that were discovered and synthesized in the early 1990s.  Their performance properties equate to a ‘holy grail’ of sorts for materials scientists and engineers.  Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) are more than 100 times stronger than steel and more flexible.  Mixing carbon nanotubes with plastics could lead to a manufacturing era of strong cheap materials to replace steel and aluminum used in aerospace – automotive industries and building construction.  Designing and building vehicles made of carbon nanotube (CNT) composite plastics would require less energy during manufacturing, improve vehicle fuel efficiencies through a much lighter chassis, and improve safety by reducing the crushing weight in a collision without sacrificing strength and protection.

Beyond tensile strength, carbon nanotube-plastic composite materials promise an era of plastic materials with electrochemical properties.  Depending on how the carbon bonds are aligned (e.g. chirality) they can behave like a conductive metal, or (if the bonds are turned in the opposite direction) nanotubes repel electrons.  Combine the two and you have a semiconductor that surpasses the performance of silicon and other precious metals.

Carbon nanotube plastic composites that conduct electricity would create tremendous value for manufacturers of airplanes, consumer electronics (e.g. thin flexible display screens) and the energy industry (e.g. plastic solar cells, batteries, fuel cells).

So what’s the problem?

Until now, scientists have had trouble mixing carbon nanotubes into liquids that are the foundation of industrial scale plastic manufacturing based on fluid techniques.  Carbon nanotubes are ’sticky’ and tend to clump up when dissolved into liquids that are used in making plastic products.

Now, Houston-based researchers at Rice University have advanced a method for dissolving large amounts of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) into a chlorosulfonic acid-based  solvent that is ‘compatible with high throughput manufacturing techniques.’ If we can continue to evolve methods for liquid-based manufacturing techniques that use the power of carbon nanotubes, the world could fundamentally re-write the 21st century Industrial Age.

Plastics and nanotubes derived from natural gas (or other carbon rich biomass) might someday compete with steel as the foundation for industrial materials manufacturing.   Large steel and aluminum plants could be replaced with smaller, less capital and energy intensive polymer-composite plants.   Emerging economies could set up advanced material manufacturing operations based on more cost effective hydrocarbons rather than iron ore and precious metals.

The economic and environmental benefits are enormous – and the potential revival of US composite manufacturing could help to reverse years of decline in traditional iron ore based US Industrial Belt economies that have been unable to compete against China.   These regions might find a new value proposition in the global economy by focusing on a era of manufacturing based on CNT-plastics.

YouTube: Carbon Nanotube fibre dissolving in chlorosulfonic acid
Matteo Pasquali’s group at Rice University

Image credit: Wikimedia (Carbon Nanotube) CC License

Links to story on Nanowerk

CC License Steve Jurvetson

Exxon Mobil made headlines this week by announcing that it could invest up to $600 million to scale up the production of algae-derived liquid hydrocarbon fuels.  The company is teaming up with Craig Venter (of Human Genome fame) to rethink how we use biology to turn carbon into a profit-generating resource, rather than a liability in an era of global carbon pricing schemes.

Venter’s startup Synthetic Genomics Inc. is developing synthetic microorganisms to produce massive amounts of hydrocarbon chains using the energy of sunlight, hydrogen from water and carbon dioxide from power plant emissions and/or industrial waste. The algae byproduct (molecular chains of hydrogen and carbon) can be used for liquid fuels in combustion engines and/or converted into electricity via a fuel cell, or as a biomaterial feedstock used in a wide range of non-energy industries.

While it is tempting to assume this is purely a play in the ‘biofuels’ arena, a foresight-based approach to this  story suggests that Exxon is dipping its toes into a new way of assembling hydrocarbon chains based on the idea of bioindustrialism.  So instead of using fire (heat) to melt metals or chemicals to breakdown and reassemble molecules, visionaries are enabling an era in which biomolecular pathways do the heavy lifting of molecular assembly.  This is a future in which we ‘grow’ our energy and basic materials.  (Let’s not forget- oil is itself ancient algae!)

Is an Investment in Algae-based Conversion an Alternative to Oil?  Or Chemical Engineering?

Exxon is in the business of finding and selling chains of hydrogen and carbon (hydrocarbons).  Investing in algae could add biochemical engineering to the company’s core competency base, but it is not likely to distract the company from its primary business.

To date Exxon’s business model has been based on ‘extracting’ hydrogen-carbon molecules from the Earth as natural gas and oil. Geo-engineering is what drives its business.  Then chemical engineers refine these hydrocarbon resources- then sells them as fuel for vehicles (gasoline) and power plants (natural gas) or feedstocks for materials manufacturing.

If you take away the need for oil and natural gas to be used as transportation fuel or power plants, Exxon would simply shift operations to becoming a feedstock provider for materials manufacturing.  Instead of selling hydrocarbon molecules to blow up in our cars or power plants, it would arrive in the form of a plastic bag, Apple iPhone, or polymer-coated textiles.

We are not addicted to oil, as much as we are dependent on chains of carbon and hydrogen.  We live in the Age of Polymers (long repeating chains of molecules).  Algae offer the promise of ‘Bio-Polymer’ assembly.

Exxon’s investment places an early bet on processing molecules via algae’s biochemical pathways.  The promise is low cost, scalable way to absorb carbon and produce a higher value byproduct that matches or exceeds gasoline or natural gas. This is Exxon’s first investment in a future scenario where the hydrocarbon building blocks of the world are not ‘extracted’ from geological reserves but ‘grown’ in bioreactors.  There are many challenges ahead (lighting, growth factors, harvesting, et al)  in scaling up bio-based energy and materials solutions, but this is a critical vote of confidence from a very conservative player in the world of energy.  Most analysts expect large scale bioreactors to emerge within the next 3-10 years.

Learn more:

Emerging Markets Online     Algae 2020 Report

Image: By Steve Jurvetson Flickr Creative Commons License