Diversa Corporation, a leader in the development of high-performance specialty enzymes, today announced that it has formed a research program with New Zealand Crown Research Institutes Scion and AgResearch which could ultimately see New Zealand's entire vehicle fleet running on New Zealand-grown and manufactured biofuels.

The partners have agreed to coordinate their technology development initiatives to target the feasibility of a transportation biofuel industry in New Zealand that uses bio-based feedstocks such as trees and grasses. 

The three organizations have recently completed a preliminary study, undertaken at Scion in Rotorua and Diversa in San Diego, to investigate the potential for applying Diversa's enzymes to New Zealand-grown tree stocks to convert the wood into sugars, which can then be fermented and refined into ethanol and other products.

Scion Chief Executive, Dr. Tom Richardson, says the results from the preliminary study are extremely positive, which has prompted the three organizations to agree to move forward and conduct a feasibility study to further assess the technology and economics of a transportation biofuel industry in New Zealand.

In addition to determining the technical and economic feasibility of a New Zealand biofuels industry, the new study will produce a roadmap to identify potential risks or barriers to commercialization as well as specific technical and commercialization plans. If the results of the feasibility study are positive, the three organizations will work together to bring this vision to reality.

More than 50 per cent of New Zealand's energy use is fossil fuel based, with the country consuming more than 840 million gallons of gasoline annually.

The Ministry of Climate Change is finalizing New Zealand's strategies to respond to climate change, decrease carbon emissions, and to develop and produce secure, clean energy at affordable prices. The partners believe New Zealand's forestry industry has the potential to meet these goals, by providing renewable and sustainable energy alternatives from an environmentally beneficial resource.

Diversa will employ its proprietary metagenomic enzyme discovery and optimization technologies in order to develop robust enzymes designed for cost-effective wood biomass conversion and to improve fermentation performance. Diversa is a leader in the development of high-performance specialty enzymes, with commercialized enzyme products and development-stage programs in the biofuels sector. Its Chief Executive Officer, Edward Shonsey, says resources such as New Zealand forests could be used to make ethanol and replace a significant proportion of imported gasoline.

"This is one of the most exciting and profound projects I have ever been involved in, and we are looking forward to deploying Diversa's powerful enzyme discovery and development technologies to create new cocktails of enzymes to convert wood to ethanol cost-effectively," commented Mr. Shonsey.

"This represents an opportunity to have a positive impact on the future of New Zealand and other countries with abundant cellulosic biomass such as wood. Successfully developing new cocktails of enzymes to convert wood to ethanol could really change the paradigm of energy thought and policy."

"We are combining our enzyme technologies with the research capability and expertise at Scion and AgResearch to determine whether a biofuel industry would work in New Zealand," Mr. Shonsey further commented.

Scion's Dr. Richardson says Scion has expertise in forestry and forest products research, and this will be a key component of the next phase.

"We have great breadth across our organization to apply to this study, from biochemistry right through to resource availability and logistics, and sustainable land use modeling."

"New Zealand has seven per cent of its land mass in plantation forests. The developing energy and climate change policies should anticipate an ever expanding range of products and environmental services from these forest resources."

"This particular project will look at how we might use some of this renewable resource to replace gasoline in New Zealand cars. In particular, we will be investigating whether novel enzymes could be used as part of the pulp and paper manufacturing process to make ethanol and other co-products, and the full flow-on implications of such a shift," he says.

"New Zealand is in a unique position of being able to investigate the real possibility of transforming from a petrochemical-based to a carbohydrate-based economy," commented AgResearch Business Development Manager, Dr. Richard Curtis.

"The project will also assess other potential feed stocks such as grass. Whilst plantation forests provide a standing biomass, the project will consider a range of feedstocks for biomass production and turnaround time. The Forage Biotechnology and Forage Improvement teams at AgResearch will provide the expertise for this component of the project."

AgResearch also has considerable expertise in catchment and life cycle modeling and will bring this capability to the study in terms of efficient land use in the New Zealand context.

"As a leading provider in research for climate change and sustainability, AgResearch is delighted to be involved in this exciting project for renewable energy in New Zealand."