Green Plains Inc., a diversified commodity processing business, and Novozymes, a world leader in biological solutions, announced this week an exclusive partnership and commercialization agreement for biological solutions in the production of high-protein ingredients. The partnership will be aimed at aquaculture, pet food and novel ingredients to be used in global protein markets.

The collaboration will utilize the biorefinery footprint, process know-how and global distribution capabilities of Green Plains, together with Novozymes’ expertise in microbiology, to create a diverse range of value-added products that result in functional proteins. Specifically, the biological solutions of Novozymes will be combined with Green Plains’ first high-protein production facility and Optimal Aquafeed’s aquaculture laboratory in Shenandoah, Iowa, with the intention to create one of the leading end-to-end innovation platforms in the world for aquaculture nutrition.

“This exclusive technology partnership is another step in the transformation of Green Plains to a world-class protein provider,” Green Plains president and chief executive officer Todd Becker said. “By partnering with Novozymes, we believe we will be able to increase the value of the products we produce every day and together provide solutions for our nutritional partners in the aquaculture, animal feed and companion animal food markets worldwide.”

Brian Brazeau, Novozymes vice president for bioenergy commercial and president of North America, said, “We are really excited to further utilize advanced biology to unlock additional commercial opportunities in protein production in biorefining together with our customers. In line with our updated strategy, the partnership with Green Plains is yet another example of how we use enzymatic and microbial solutions to help bring biological answers to the challenge and opportunity of growth in global protein demand.”

Achieving higher-value outputs

Novozymes’ existing suite of biotechnology will help Green Plains achieve higher concentrations of protein. As part of the agreement, Novozymes will dedicate research and development resources to also look at new molecules and yeasts to test in Green Plains' processes to further enhance protein products and ultimately create different, higher-value outputs from Green Plains’ biofuel production facilities.

“As we continue to roll out high-protein nutritional solutions for our customers, we expect to create a company with predictable and growing earnings and become much less dependent on our traditional business structure,” Becker said. “This is a continuation of the transformation of Green Plains to a leading nutritional and ag tech company focused on developing value-added products for animal feed and aquaculture customers globally, fully utilizing the production capabilities we have in place today.”

Brazeau said the partnership will expand Novozymes’ reach into the agricultural supply chain as its biological solutions will touch a much larger portion of the animal feed market.

“The collaboration will enable better business for our customers and help meet the need for ever more protein,” he added.

The companies plan to begin implementation of the partnership in the first quarter of 2020.