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Customer interest in enzymes, another renewable cleaning ingredient, has surged over the past two years, if Novozymes' results are any guide. Although detergents are the Danish firm's biggest market, for much of this decade, the market wasn't growing very fast. Then, in 2007, detergent enzyme sales shot up 10%. Last year, sales were on track for 14% growth—impressive for the detergent industry, which typically expands by only 1 or 2% per year.
"Novozymes has always believed in detergents," says Lund, the marketing director, "but only in the past two years has it paid off." He attributes the growth mostly to customers who turned to enzymes as a safe harbor when prices for conventional ingredients started becoming highly volatile.
But customer demand for more sustainable ingredients has also been a driver, Lund says. In recent years, Novozymes has developed new enzymes such as Stainzyme, Polarzyme, and Liquanase that are specifically designed to work in cold water. "We can prove that compared with other ingredients, enzymes work better at low temperature," he says. Moreover, although laundry detergent makers traditionally add enzymes for their stain-removal capabilities, Lund says his customers are discovering that enzymes impart basic detergency as well.
Novozymes sees enzymes as potential replacements for phosphates, which are being banned from laundry detergents in several European countries and will be phased out of automatic dishwasher detergents in the U.S. by mid-2010 under an industry agreement. According to Lund, detergent makers can replace phosphates and surfactants with a multienzyme mixture without loss of performance
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