Sustainable Biofuels Production through Biosolutions with Innovations in Enzymes and Yeast

In an interaction with Thiruamuthan, Correspondent at Industry Outlook, Puneeth Kumar KT, Business Director - Planetary Health Biosolutions, Novonesis in South Asia, discusses the critical role of biosolutions, such as advanced enzymes and yeast, in expanding India's ethanol blending program by optimizing bioethanol production from diverse feedstocks. He highlights innovations that improve efficiency, reduce carbon intensity, support sustainability, and enable scalable, low-carbon biofuel commercialization aligned with India’s energy and environmental goals.

Puneeth Kumar is a seasoned business director with over 25 years of experience in agricultural and industrial biosolutions. He specializes in driving innovation, sustainability, and growth across biotech applications in South Asia and beyond.

With the proposals to extend the Ethanol Blending Program to 30 percent, what role will biosolutions assume in the expansion of bioethanol production?

Biosolutions with innovations in enzymes and yeast solutions is poised to play a pivotal role in the expansion of ethanol blending program in India. They are designed to optimize fermentation processes and enhance the conversion of grains and biomass into ethanol. These solutions are tailored to work across various grain feedstocks such as rice, corn, sorghum, and biomass feedstocks like rice straws, bagasse, and bamboo. They equip ethanol plants with the flexibility to produce biofuels based on the availability and costs of these feedstocks.

Enzymes cleaves complex starches, fibers and other structural compositions in the feedstocks into simple sugars that could be metabolized seamlessly with advanced yeast solutions. By virtue of it, the ethanol plants become resource efficient, conserve energy and optimize production throughput.

Additionally, biosolutions improve crop yield, thereby strengthening the availability of feedstocks suited for biofuels production. This enables the opportunity to support higher blending rates. Beyond ethanol blending, advanced enzymes and yeast solutions also enable ethanol plants to produce byproducts that can be monetized to ensure robust profitability.

Therefore, biosolutions, with advancement in enzyme and yeast solutions, are essential for optimizing ethanol production and enhancing crop yields, thereby playing a critical role in supporting India's energy security and the decarbonization of transportation.

What is your view on the low carbon intensity (CI) ethanol production in India? As the ethanol players look to scale-up low CI ethanol production, how can biosolutions enable industrial-scale commercialization in India?

Advanced biofuels act as a critical tool for achieving a sustainable and decarbonized future. As various countries move towards formalizing net-zero targets, advanced biofuels would become increasingly important to address the feedstock gaps (if any), fast-track emission reduction, and explore decarbonization opportunities in “hard-to-abate” transport sectors such as aviation and the marine sectors. Countries including Brazil, the US, and India have already embarked on the journey of low-carbon (CI) fuel deployment with the establishment of the fiber/lignocellulosic-based ethanol industry. Depending on the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) model being used, the CI of cellulosic ethanol is 34 to 63 percent lower than the CI of ethanol produced from starch, which could mean significant gains for India in its net-zero journey.  

The production of second-generation ethanol is not feasible without the use of biosolutions. Biosolutions facilitate the efficient hydrolysis of diverse biomass types, which can subsequently be processed through fermentation using the compatible yeast to produce lignocellulosic or 2G ethanol. As a key player in the biosolutions space, Novonesis has over a decade-long association with advanced biofuels – from the first commercial scale lignocellulosic plant to the most recent commercial 2G plant in Brazil.

Also Read: Powering the Planet Sustainably: Scaling Clean Energies in Oil-Dependent Markets

Given the variation in regional biomass types, how does biosolutions address an efficient processing of India’s diverse agricultural waste streams?

Each biomass type requires specific intervention due to its unique composition and structure. In this context, technology players collaborate with manufacturing plants to design tailored biosolutions that are suitable for specific biomass type or combination of feedstocks. This approach ensures that the unique characteristics of each biomass are effectively addressed, optimizing the conversion process and enhancing overall efficiency in advanced biofuels.

To provide specific examples, Novonesis has developed solutions customized for production of 2G ethanol from sugarcane bagasse in Brazil. In India, we are partnering with IOCL for their flagship 2G ethanol production in Panipat using rice straw as the feedstock and closely working with a bamboo-based 2G biorefinery in Assam. We believe, with right support and collaboration, multiple biomass feedstocks could be leveraged to support the production of low-carbon fuels.

As carbon intensity tracking becomes mandatory, how are biosolutions helping biofuel players leverage emissions compliance frameworks?

Carbon markets are evolving across the globe, driven by regulatory support and the need to incentivize low carbon technologies. Biofuels industry would be instrumental in furthering this objective by maximizing the feedstock utilization.

Several countries are already promoting the adoption of low-carbon biofuels through various incentives and credits, which help biofuel producers maintain financial stability and invest in scaling up production. Certain states in the US incentivizes manufacturers to produce low-carbon ethanol (cellulosic or 1.5 G ethanol from corn kernel fiber) under Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) and federal/ state tax credits. Supportive frameworks to incentivize cellulosic ethanol can go a long way. US policies, for instance, classify Corn Kernel Fiber as a waste feedstock thus exempting it from the CI cost of Corn Production and iLUC (indirect land use change). This incentivizes the production of cellulosic ethanol from Corn Kernel Fibers, while also lowering its CI score.   

Biosolutions play a central role in maximizing the output from any organic feedstock having complex starches, fibers or lignocellulosic structures.

In this context, biosolutions help ethanol producers in reducing the Carbon Intensity of their ethanol in two key ways: 1) By creating the opportunity for a differentiated Cellulosic Ethanol stream; and 2) By enabling the production of more ethanol from fewer resources, and maximizing the efficiency of production methods. In sum, this would improve the yield at reduced carbon footprint and enable biofuels producers to benefit from carbon monetization.

Also Read: Embracing Sustainability: The Growing Importance of Sustainable Chemistry

What are the new innovations in this space taking place to advance next-generation biofuels?

We believe the transportation energy mix of the future would be diverse, basis regional and geopolitical factors. Each region will have a suite of available energy options to fuel their transport needs. In this context, we believe innovations are needed across the spectrum of biofuels types including conventional, grain, biomass or algae-based production. Consequently, we at Novonesis are investing a significant share of our revenue in R&D activities across biofuels type.

To contextualize this, in the grain ethanol space, innovations in biosolutions are revolutionizing the complex starch conversion process. Advancements are taking place in the yeast solutions which aims to catapult ethanol yield and plant efficiencies. Advancements in the GM yeast solutions can improve the ethanol yield by up to 4 percent and with significantly faster fermentation kinetics.

In the 2G ethanol space, advanced enzyme technology has been developed specifically tailored for diverse feedstocks such as rice straw and bamboo and pre-treatment methods. These innovative solutions promise to enhance the efficiency of diverse biomass-to-ethanol production process. We work with our partners in early startup/ commissioning phase by optimizing the hydrolysis process - a critical process in 2G ethanol production - and supporting analytical capabilities.

Ethanol produced through sugar route plays key role in meeting ethanol blending target. At Novonesis, we are exploring ways, through biosolutions, to add value across value chain of sugar cane in getting more from less both in farm and sugar cane processing. These efforts underscore our belief that there is a potential to improve environmental footprint across biofuel types, irrespective of their maturity curves.

To sum up, innovations in biofuels, including grain, biomass, and algae-based solutions, are essential for a diverse and sustainable transportation energy mix. Significant R&D investments will drive advancements in biosolutions, enhancing ethanol production efficiency and environmental sustainability, ensuring each region can meet its unique energy needs.