Ethanol dreams corny, but they're coming true: Novozymes North America is developing enzymes that will allow renewable energy sources such as ethanol to become competitive.

"Somewhere over the rainbow skies are blue, and the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true." When Dorothy Gale sang those words on that Kansas farm, it's almost certain she wasn't dreaming about renewable energy (there probably wasn't time, after all, between fending off wicked witches, flying monkeys and indignant apple trees). But were she gazing across the fence at the cornfields in the distance today, it's likely that she would see a dream world full of possibilities.

Using renewable crops such as corn as an alternative fuel source is not only possible, it's fast becoming a reality, thanks to a company in North Carolina. Novozymes, which has its North American headquarters in Franklinton, is the biotech-based world leader in enzymes and microorganisms. Through its industrial enzymes research and products, Novozymes is revolutionizing not only manufacturing, but agricultural and energy industries as well.

From its global headquarters in Denmark, Novozymes pioneered the industrial enzyme business in 1941 and today commands nearly half of the world market. It has introduced virtually every new industrial enzyme application of the past half century and is at the forefront of the fast-growing industrial biotechnology market--which some experts predict will have a $160 billion impact within a decade.

With research and production in Denmark, the United States, China, Japan and Brazil, Novozymes operates in 130 countries, serving more than 40 industries. Novozymes' 600-plus products are used in hundreds of consumer and industrial goods--from bread, beer and bioethanol to textiles, detergent and animal feed. With sales topping $1 billion in 2005, the company continues to set the pace for the burgeoning industrial biotechnology segment.

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One of Novozymes' most exciting new vistas in the biotechnology field rests on a landscape peppered with scarecrows and silos. Ethanol, also known as ethyl alcohol or grain alcohol, has served as an energy source since ancient times.

Before the Civil War, many farmers built alcohol stills to turn crop waste into lamp oil and stove fuel for their families. Ethanol's potential to revolutionize our energy use reached a turning point in 1826 when Samuel Morey received a patent for the world's first internal combustion engine, a milestone that would make possible the invention of the automobile later that century. To power his "explosive engine," Morey experimented with potential fuel...