Novozymes Unveils $36M Investment in Blair

Less than five years after Novozymes opened a state-of-the-art advanced manufacturing facility in Blair, Governor Pete Ricketts recently announced that the company has selected the site for its most recent expansion efforts in North America. The company’s new $36 million investment in the facility, which produces enzymes for renewable fuels, will increase the plant’s capacity to meet growing needs within the bioscience industry and global biofuels market.

Since 2012, production capacity in Nebraska’s biofuels industry increased by 7.8 percent. Nebraska is the number two ethanol producer in the nation and produces more than 2 billion gallons annually, second only to Iowa. Nebraska, Iowa and Illinois produce nearly half of the 15.2 billion gallons of ethanol generated each year in the United States.

The company has hired more than 100 local contractors to install additional production equipment and water cooling units at the facility, where work is currently underway. Company officials worked with both state and local economic development partners to expand in Blair, including the Nebraska Department of Economic Development (DED), Omaha Public Power District (OPPD), Gateway Development Corporation and the Greater Omaha Chamber Economic Development Partnership.

While the company’s North American presence includes its headquarters in Franklinton, NC, and 10 additional facilities in the United States and Canada, Novozymes’ Blair plant currently serves as its only American facility dedicated to the growing biofuel industry.