Spirizyme Excel is an enzyme from Novozymes that is said to increase starch conversion yields to ethanol ¹. The product, Spirizyme Excel, converts more of the starch in corn, wheat, and other feedstocks into sugars which can be fermented to ethanol, thereby allowing producers to increase yields by more than one percent. This could mean an increase in value to a typical ethanol plant of $1 million or more per year using the enzyme.

Novozymes says that the new enzyme is able to break down the most difficult starch fractions? in the feedstock to maximize biofuel production yields. The greater the starch conversion, the higher the output of ethanol.

In 2010, an average acre of Midwest corn will yield roughly 440 gallons of ethanol. Corn yields have improved by 70 percent per acre and ethanol plants can get 50 percent more ethanol out of the corn compared to 1977.²

In 2009, the US produced 10.8 billion gallons of ethanol, which supported nearly 400,000 jobs, contributed $53.3 billion to GDP, and displaced the need for 364 million barrels of oil. US legislation mandates production of 12 billion gallons of ethanol in 2010. ²

References & External Links

¹ Announcement made in June 2010 by Novozymes

² Novozymes