50 Hottest Companies in Bioenergy
2009-2010
Subscriber’s Selection Book
Including company profiles and recommendations
The 2009-10 50 Hottest Companies in Bioenergy
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Welcome Letter3
Instructions for Selectors4
Hot Fuels, Feedstocks and Processing Technologies(survey)5
The 2008-09 50 Hottest Companies in Bioenergy7
Candidate Profiles
2008-09 Top 50 companies (in order of rank)8
Other Companies (in alphabetical order)100
Some 2009-10 eligible companies not profiled218
Biofuels Digest Recommendations
Hot 50 Recommendations and Hotter than Hell lists221
WELCOME!
Dear Subscriber,
First of all, thank you for participating in this year’s 50 Hottest Companies in Bioenergy.
The information contained in this volume is not required reading. Rather, these company profiles, recommendations, and other materials, are here to assist you. You can use them, or not, as you see fit. The companies themselves supplied a lot of the material in this book — I made an effort to edit out the “promotional material” and strike anything outrageous. If I missed something you think looks goofy, just skip by it.
Hottest does not mean “best”, “biggest” or “most significant” – it means the companies that are, in your judgment, the most worthy of attention.
I hope you find the process enjoyable and educational!
Sincerely yours,
Jim Lane
HOT FUELS, FEEDSTOCKS AND TECHNOLOGIES
The following data is from an October 2009 Biofuels Digest reader survey.
THE 2008-09 50 HOTTEST COMPANIES IN BIOENERGY
50 Hottest Companies in Bioenergy 2009-10 • Selector Book1
1. Coskata
2. Sapphire Energy
3. Virent Energy Systems
4. POET
5. Range Fuels
6. Solazyme
7. Amyris Biotechnologies
8. Mascoma
9. DuPont Danisco
10. UOP
11. ZeaChem
12. Aquaflow Bionomic
13. Bluefire Ethanol
14. Novozymes
15. Qteros
16. Petrobras
17. Cobalt Biofuels
18. Iogen
19. Synthetic Genomics
20. Abengoa Energy
21. KL Energy
22. Ineos
23. GreenFuel
24. Vital Renewable Energy
25. LS9
26. Raven Biofuels
27. Gevo
28. St.1 Biofuels Oy
29. Primafuel
30. Taurus Energy
31. Ceres
32. Syngenta
33. Aurora Biofuels
34. Bionavitas
35. Algenol
36. Verenium
37. Simply Green
38. Carbon Green
39. SEKAB
40. Osage Bioenergy
41. Dynamotive
42. Sustainable Power
43. ETH Bioenergia
44. Choren
45. OriginOil
46. Propel Fuels
47. GEM Biofuels
48. Lake Erie Biofuels
49. Cavitation Technologies
50. Lotus/Jaguar – Omnivore
50 Hottest Companies in Bioenergy 2009-10 • Selector Book1
2009-10 CANDIDATE COMPANY PROFILES
2008-09 HOT 50
#1 Coskata
Based in: Illinois
Business:
The company's process heats raw materials to 17800 degrees fahrenheit, then releases the material into a bioreactor where microbes convert the gas into ethanol, with a yield of 100 gallons per ton of feedstock at a cost of less than $1 per gallon. The company can co-locate with steel mills to convert CO into as much as 50 billion gallons of gasoline per year.
Model: Technology licensor; owner and operator of a demonstration-scale facility.
Past milestones:
1. Built a pilot-scale facility in Warrenville, Illinois.
2. Raised $19.5 million in a second round of funding that will be used towards construction costs of its first 100 Mgy cellulosic ethanol plant. General Motors and Khosla Ventures were among the investors in the first round of funding.
Future milestones:
1. Building a 40,000 gallon demonstration plant for cellulosic ethanol in Madison, PA. The semi-scale plant in Pennsylvania will demonstrate the integrated operation of Coskata's gasification technology and what Coskata believes is the leading gallons per dry ton conversion rate for biomass.
1. Coskata projected in 2009 they it would reach 100 Mgy in annual production by 2012.
2. The company expects to build its first 50-60 Mgy commercial scale plant in the Southeast, with a focus on the US Sugar facility near Lake Okeechobee in South Florida. The company said that it's process reduces the use of water in refining by 50 percent compared to gasoline.
Metrics:
Coskata, which uses thermochemical and biological processes, says that it can produce 100 gallons of fuel per ton of waste.
The Coskata model presupposes a yield of around 100 gallons per ton of biomass. Sugar cane grows at around 70.9 tonnes per hectare in India, and at 71 in Brazil; in Florida, yields are at 68 tonnes per hectare. 12 percent of that cane is sugar, which yields 1700 gallons of ethanol per acre, or more. The remaining 88 percent is bagasse for a Coskata process, or about 60 tonnes per hectare. To generate 100 million gallons in this model, Coskata will need 1 million tons, or 900,000 tonnes of biomass. That will require 15,00 hectares, or 32,500 acres. That's 51 square miles, or the area within 4 miles of a 100 million gallon refinery. A mighty plantation, but not long hauling distances.
Coskata quotable quotes:
"Speaking at the Advanced Biofuels Summit, Wes Bolsen, Coskata CMO said he was not worried in the short term about downstream development of ethanol distribution infrastructure, saying that in the context of building the first handful of 50-100 Mgy cellulosic ethanol plants that people were lining up to take the ethanol."
"Coskata confirmed to Australian media that it plans to establish a 53 Mgy advanced biofuels plant in the state of Victoria, and was seeking a partnership that would help provide cellulosic ethanol, forest residues and building waste. The state government of Victoria also confirmed that it is in talks with Coskata, which is partly owned by General Motors, the parent company of Australia's largest auto maker, Holden."
#2 Sapphire Energy
Based in: San Diego, CA. Also has a 100-acre Pilot facility in Las Cruces, NM
Year Founded: 2007
Annual Revenues: N/A
Technology:
Sapphire Energy is focused on the entire “pond to pump” value chain with over 230 patents or applications spanning the entire algae-to-fuel process. They are developing industrial algae strains through synthetic biology and breeding techniques and are building the technologies and systems for CO2 utilization, cultivation, harvesting and refining. The algae and processes developed are field tested at a New Mexico research and development center where all the processes -- from biology to cultivation to harvest and extraction -- can be performed at a pilot scale. These processes result in a product called Green Crude which can be refined into the fuels we use every day - gasoline, diesel and jet fuel.
Fuel type:
Green Crude can be refined into the three most important liquid fuels used by our society: gasoline, diesel and jet fuel. The fuels meet ASTM standards and are compatible with the existing petroleum infrastructure, from refinement through distribution and the retail supply chain.
Major investors:
Sapphire Energy is supported by a world-class syndicate of investors led by co-founder ARCH Venture Partners, along with the Wellcome Trust, Venrock and Cascade Investment, LLC.
Past milestones (08-09):
- First commercial airline test flights using algae-based, drop-in replacement fuel (Continental & JAL)
- First vehicle to cross the US fueled by a blend of algae-based gasoline in an unmodified engine (Algaeus, in partnership with FUEL and The Veggie Van Organization)
- Production timeline announced – within 3 years Sapphire Energy expects to be nearing completion of a demonstration and test facility and well on its way to producing 1 million gallons of diesel and jet fuel per year over the next 5 years. By 2018, Sapphire expects to grow this to 100 million and by 2025 1 billion gallons of diesel and jet fuel per year.
3 major milestone goals (2010-11)
- Begin construction on demonstration scale Integrated Algal Bio-Refinery (IABR) in New Mexico
Business model:
Develop technology and operate along the entire pond-to-pump value chain.
Fuel cost:
Sapphire’s planning goals are to be able to produce green crude at between $60 - $80 per barrel.
Competitive edge:
Sapphire Energy’s distinction as a company comes from its understanding of synthetic biology and its application to algae. Through this they have developed IP spanning the entire pond-to-pump value chain, representing over 230 patents and applications. Based on their strong IP position and freedom to operate these patents, Sapphire has caught the attention of a blue-ribbon syndicate of investors including ARCH Venture Partners, the Wellcome Trust, Venrock and Cascade Investment, LLC.
Sapphire Energy is seen as a leader in the way they are approaching the problem. Sapphire is an energy company, using synthetic biology to make low carbon drop-in fuels. Sapphire is focused on manufacturing infrastructure compliant green crude that fits with the fuel transport and distribution systems we use today. They're focused on producing ASTM-certified fuels at a commercial scale without the use of sugar or any other feedstock. Sapphire's Green Crude is produced directly from CO2 and sunlight and the resulting fuel is not biodiesel, but high-value, renewable hydrocarbons.
Alliances and Partnerships:
Sapphire is collaborating with leading scientists from the Department of Energy’s Joint Genome Institute; University of California, San Diego; The Scripps Research Institute; Texas AM, NM State University, Scandia National Institute, University of Kentucky, University of Tulsa, and the San Diego Center for Algae Biotechnology.
Development stage: Demonstration
Website:
#3 Virent
Based in:3571 Anderson Street, Madison, WI 53704(608) 663-0228
Year Founded:2002
Annual Revenues: Confidential
Technology:
Virent’s patented catalytic BioForming® process combines proprietary aqueous phase reforming (APR) technology with established petroleum refining techniques to generate the same range of hydrocarbon molecules now refined from petroleum.
Fuel type:
Green gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, and chemicals previously refined only from petroleum.
Major investors:
Cargill Ventures, Honda Strategic Ventures, Venture Investors LLC, and Advantage Capital.
Past milestones (08-09):
- Announced collaboration with Royal Dutch Shell to develop biogasoline.
- Exceeded technical milestones and began scale-up of biogasoline production, including shipment of product for testing.
- Received prestigious government and industry recognition including the US EPA’s Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge, the World Economic Forum’s Technology Pioneer, Red Herring 100 North America, and ICIS Innovation awards.
3 major milestone goals (2010-11)
- Design and construct commercial scale facility for the production of biogasoline.
- Complete additional strategic investments.
- Begin scale-up of diesel and jet fuel production.
Business model:
Owner/operator and licensing within strategic relationships
Fuel cost:
Preliminary analysis suggests that Virent’s BioForming process can compete economically with petroleum-based fuels and chemicals at current feedstock and crude oil prices ($60-70/bbl).
Competitive edge:
Virent’s BioForming technology provides numerous competitive advantages:
Premium Liquid Fuel Products:
The technology produces a wide range of high quality hydrocarbon fuels that have no barriers to full market adoption. With the same composition and energy content as petroleum fuels, these biofuels can be distributed through existing pipelines and fuel pumps, and used at high blends with, or as drop in replacements for, petroleum fuels in today’s engines. They can also work in applications currently without viable biofuel solutions, such as air travel.
Feedstock Flexibility:
Sugar mixtures, including 5 and 6 carbon sugars, disaccharides, and other water soluble polysaccharides derived from sugar and energy crops, as well as agricultural and forestry waste, are possible feedstocks. This flexibility translates into more biomass options and lower input costs.
Low Carbon Fuels: The process is CO2 neutral, water positive, and has low life cycle emissions. This energy efficient, exothermic process runs under moderate conditions and requires no external energy inputs. The process yields 30% more net energy than corn ethanol due to the natural separation of gasoline from water (ethanol distillation requires energy inputs of nearly 50% of its final energy content).
Robust Catalytic Process: Catalysts provide increased productivity due to faster chemical reactions, proven process reliability, reduced energy requirements, and demonstrated scalability to large production volumes. In contrast to biological processes which depend on living enzymes or microbes, catalysts are capable of utilizing variable feedstocks and of producing a range of molecules.
Cost-Competitive Biorefinery Solution: Feedstocks and end products can be optimized based on local market conditions. This fast and continuous (versus batch) process lowers capital expenditures, while low energy requirements reduce operating costs. Together, these attributes provide a biorefinery solution with a broad mix of high value products that are competitive with petroleum products at current prices.
The BioForming process is a practical biorefinery alternative that can speed the use of non-food plant sugars as an energy source in place of petroleum, thus decreasing dependence on fossil hydrocarbons while minimizing the impact on global water and food supplies. Virent’s ability to produce hydrocarbon products that are both sustainable and economical is truly transformative.
Alliances and Partnerships:
•Virent is collaborating with Royal Dutch Shell to develop and commercialize biogasoline.
•A tier one automobile company is supporting efforts to determine biogasoline’s suitability in current and next generation engines.
Development stage:
Pilot/Demonstration
Virent is currently building the world’s first demonstration unit for the catalytic conversion of plant sugars to gasoline. The plant will have an annual capacity of 10,000 gallons.
Website
#4 POET
Based in: South Dakota
Business: Largest private first generation ethanol producer; developer of cellulosic ethanol technology (using corn cobs as a feedstock).
Model:
Owner-operator, holding minority stakes in most of its plants, with local investors.
Past milestones:
1. Opening of the company’spilot cellulosic plant in Scotland, SD, producing cellulosic ethanol at a rate of approximately 20,000 gallons per year.
2. Completed its first corn cob collection season, and in a 16-day trial of new cob harvesting tecnology.
3. Announced the creation of POET Biomass, a division of POET devoted to managing harvest and transportation logistics for corn cobs – POET’s cellulosic feedstock – as well as waste wood and other feedstocks to be used for cellulosic ethanol and alternative energy projects at their production facilities.
4. The POET Biorefining plant in Bingham Lake has deployed a new technology for eliminating water discharge, and the 35 Mgy corn ethanol plant is now using 2.64 gallons of water per gallon of ethanol produced, down from 3.42, with water discharges limited to steam and the water content in dried distillers grains and other byproducts. POET has been working on recycled water use, capturing 100 percent of its water used at its Portland, Indiana plant from recycled quarry water and 80 percent of its water at the Big Stone, SD plant from a power plant cooling pond.
5. With the city of Sioux Falls, completed a landfill gas pipeline that will supply methane gas to the 105 Mgy POET plant at Chancellor. The10-mile, low-pressure pipeline from the Sioux Falls Regional Sanitary Landfill will provide the landfill gas used a wood waste-fuel boiler to generate process steam. The two alternative energy sources will offset up to 90 percent of the plant’s process steam needs and could in the future replace 90 percent of the plant’s total energy needs. The partnership will provide revenues to Sioux Falls and reduce costs at the POET Chancellor plant. The project is the 460th around the country to utilize landfill methane. The pipeline cost the city $4.3 million, costs $300,000 to operate, and will generate $1.8 million in annual city revenue from sale of methane to POET.
6. POET received the 2008 Biofuels Digest Achievement Award for Cellulosic Ethanol.
The award was given in recognition of achieving high yields and reduced energy inputs in ethanol production through its BPX technology.
7. Awarded the Energy Star designation for energy efficiency at its Ashton, IA plant. The 56 Mgy POET corn ethanol plant in Ashton, which opened in 2005, is equipped with combined heat and power (CHP) that generates up to 7.2 MW of electricity and requires 16 percent less fuel than a conventional process. The process saves 18,900 tons of CO2 emissions per year.
Future milestones:
1. The company said that it expects to harvest up to 25,000 acres for cobs in Texas, South Dakota and Iowa in fall 2009.
2. 25 Mgy Project LIBERTY cellulosic ethanol plant in Emmetsburg, Iowa opens in 2011.
Metrics:
Can produce up to 3.0 gallons of ethanol per bushel of corn with its proprietary BPX technology. BPX also reduces energy needs for fermentation by 8 to 15 percent compared to other ethanol production processes.
Targeting payments to farmers of $30 to $60 per ton for corn stover (cobs and stalk), and said that farmers could increase these payments through the Biomass Crop Assistance Program. An Iowa farm averages 1.5 tons of corn stover per acre, or $45-$90 per acre in value before BCAP payments are considered.
#5 Range Fuels
Based in: 11101 W. 120 Ave., Suite 200th , Broomfield, CO 80021
Year Founded: 2006
Annual Revenues:
Range Fuels’ first commercial cellulosic biofuels plant, located near the town of Soperton,
Georgia is scheduled to begin production in the second quarter of 2010. Specific financial
information is proprietary.
Technology:
Range Fuels is focused on commercially producing low-carbon biofuels, including cellulosic
ethanol, and clean renewable power using renewable and sustainable supplies of biomass that cannot be used for food. The company uses an innovative, two-step thermo-chemical process to convert non-food biomass, such as wood chips, switchgrass, corn stover, sugarcane bagasse and olive pits to clean renewable power and cellulosic biofuels.
Range Fuels’ Two-step Thermo-chemical Conversion Process
In the first step of the process heat, pressure and steam are used to convert the non-food biomass to a synthesis gas or syngas. Excess energy in this step is recovered and used to generate clean renewable power. In the second step the cleaned syngas is passed over a proprietary catalyst and transformed into cellulosic biofuels, which can then be separated and processed to yield a variety of low carbon biofuels, including cellulosic ethanol and methanol.
These products can be used to displace gasoline or diesel transportation fuels, generate clean renewable energy or be used as low carbon chemical building blocks.