Biofuels News (Green Portal): "As the world gets hungrier for alternative fuels, industrial energy giants are scrambling to form partnerships with niche biotech companies. The race is on to create bioengineered enzymes that are at the heart of cost-effective ways of turning corn, sugar and even wood chips into a gasoline substitute called cellulosic ethanol.
Already, the field has attracted players representing Big Chemical (DuPont), Big Oil (Royal Dutch Shell) and Big Agriculture (Syngenta). Each of them has aligned with small companies like Verenium Corp., Codexis Inc. and Novozymes A/S catering to the growing market for 'enzyme cocktails' that can produce ethanol faster and cheaper.
'We think the ethanol revolution is taking place here and it's here to stay,' said Charles Holliday Jr., DuPont's chairman and chief executive.
In turn, groups like DuPont have linked up with companies specialized in building alternative-fuel refineries, some of which also make enzymes.
According to a recent study by Burrill & Co., the market for such ethanol- producing enzymes is expected to reach $1.1 billion nearly a decade from now vs. about $100 million in 2007."
