The companies have joined to develop an industry chain to gather agricultural waste, process it into bioethanol and distribute the clean fuel through petrol stations.
The companies have not decided how much each will spend in the project, Mars Zhu, Novozymes’ China Communications Manager, said to Reuters.
The total investment could go toward building 250 factories, assuming total demand for bioethanol in China attains an expected 37 million tons in 2020, Novozymes said.
COFCO and Sinopec could capture 75% of the total revenue from the project, since the enzyme cost would account for just 25% of the total cost, Zhu said.
Zhu said the project will be concluded within five to 10 years, depending on the speed of cooperation among the firms and government regulation.
