Enzymes pushed as 'green' alternative

Novozymes, a Danish champion of "green" technology for more than 65 years, has long argued that U.S. industries should replace some fossil-fuel-based chemicals with environmentally sensitive enzymes.

The industries are finally listening.

In 2007, North America accounted for about one-third of Novozymes' worldwide sales and was one of the company's fastest-growing markets.

At its U.S. headquarters in Franklinton, less than an hour's drive north of Raleigh, Novozymes employs about 480 and is expanding. It is building a $4 million laboratory dedicated to ethanol research and has started a $22 million upgrade of the enzyme-production facilities.

The company is a key player in building a multibillion-dollar enzyme market for ethanol production. It's also working on technology that could give it access to a multibillion-dollar market in detergent production.

Thirty percent of Novozymes annual sales come from the $900 million detergent-enzymes market. But it has its eye on a larger detergent market.

A technological breakthrough promises to help Novozymes make enzymes that replace surfactants, chemicals in detergents that release stains from fabric, said Lars Topholm, a Danish analyst who tracks Novozymes.

Proctor & Gamble, maker of Tide, has teamed with Novozymes to bring to market a more environmentally friendly detergent as early as mid-2009, Topholm said.

With surfactants generating about $3.4 billion in sales in the United States alone, "the potential is massive," he said. Novozymes has not announced such a partnership, however, and has not discussed it.