A typical US ethanol plant uses around 36 million bushels (900,000 tons) of feed-grade corn per year to produce 100 million gallons of fuel ethanol, 300,000 tons of animal feed (DDGS) and 8,500 tons of corn oil. By using Avantec, Olexa and Spirizyme Achieve, such a plant can save up to 1.8 million bushels (45,000 tons) of corn while maintaining the same ethanol output, increasing corn oil extraction, and generating up to $5 million in additional profit, Novozymes said.

Avantec was introduced in October 2012.

Corn is the key raw material in biofuel production in the US and by far the biggest cost component for an ethanol plant. After the corn is harvested, the kernels are ground into corn meal and water added to make a mash. Enzymes convert the starch in the mash to sugar, which can then be fermented to ethanol. Avantec and Spirizyme Achieve convert starch to sugar more efficiently than any other enzyme product on the market, according to Novozymes, while Olexa works by freeing up oil bound in the corn germ.

Corn oil is used in the production of animal feed, biodiesel and soaps, and has become an increasingly important revenue stream for ethanol producers. Extensive implementation of extraction technology from 2008 to 2012 has seen the industry record a nearly five-fold increase in corn oil production, according to a study by the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Novozymes estimates that approximately 80% of the operating ethanol capacity in the US will have incorporated oil extraction into their plants by end 2013.

The US is the world’s biggest biofuels producer, and ethanol today accounts for approximately 10% of gasoline consumption in the US transportation sector.