No Project is an Island: Four crucial milestones for advanced biofuels

April 18, 2012 |

The INEOS Bio New Planet Energy project in Vero Beach, FL (as of January 2012)

Four projects, four technologies, four feedstocks, four geographies.

Couldn’t be more differentiated, couldn’t be more linked in terms of affirming investor confidence in advanced biofuels.

The English sonneteer John Donne would have made an excellent bioenergy trade association head, had not his duties as Dean of St. Paul’s proven so time-consuming, and had thermo-catalytic or enzymatic technologies been more widely available in the early 17th century.

In Meditations XVII, he wrote: “No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main…any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”

Though he didn’t put it quite the same way, Virent CEO Lee Edwards was pushing a similar line of thought at ABLC this month, when he outlined four basic industry goals for 2012-13 that he believes are crucial for the sector to advance.

The key to Edwards’ theme is the insistence on collective good management principles, across the sector, noting that confidence in the range of advanced biofuels technologies is undermined by “failure to launch” at any one signature facility.

Four Goals

1. Meet or Exceed 2012-13 commercial milestones: Restore investor confidence. Signal risks early, avoid surprises.

2. Distinguish Plant 1 performance and nth Plant: Set realistic forward plans for yield, scale and capital efficiency.

3. Demonstrate that new feedstocks & technologies compete with 1st Generation. Show upside profits with cellulosics and waste streams.

4. Support long term policy stability and competition.

Four Projects to Watch

In “The Litmus Test,” we identified 8 projects that will be crucial for the industry in 2012, in terms of meeting commercial-scale plant opening milestones. The first four are the most closely-watched.

Solazyme

The first milestone, the opening of Solazyme’s first small commercial project in Lestrem, France, with Roquette as its partner, was successfully negotiated. In February, Solazyme Roquette Nutritionals confirmed that “Earlier this year, Roquette started to produce in Lestrem (France) the microalgae-derived food ingredient, Whole Algalin Flour, for the account of Solazyme Roquette Nutritionals.”

What is whole Algalin Flour, anyway?

According to Solazyme Roquette, “it is a healthy lipid alternative…very low in saturated fat, trans-fat free, cholesterol free, and considerably reduces calories, as well as providing fiber and protein. Yet, it provides the same overall mouthfeel and consistency as a full fat food.” The Digest team recently sampled some Whole Algalin Flour-based cookies – yum!

INEOS New Planet Energy

Next up is an imminent mechanical completion at INEOS Bio’s first commercial plant in Vero Beach, Florida. Operations are on schedule to start this month, although the commissioning process is expected to take several months. The plant will use a combination of gasification and fermentation technologies, to turn different types of waste materials, including municipal solid waste, into advanced biofuels and renewable power, producing 8 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol under the new Renewable Fuel Standard and provide power for 1400 homes in the area.

Gevo

Following the INEOS New Planet Energy project, eyes will turn to Gevo, which has begun the retrofit of its ethanol facility in Luverne, Minnesota, to produce biobased isobutanol. This milestone brings the company one step closer to commercial-scale production. The retrofit is expected to be complete by the end of June. Again, commissioning the plant and reaching full production will take several months.

Beta Renewables

Right at the end of the first half, and commissioning in Q3, Beta Renewables will open its 13 million gallon cellulosic ethanol plant in Crescentino, Italy.

Four projects, four critical milestones. One producing isobutanol, another producing flour, the third producing a combination of renewable power and ethanol, the fourth producing ethanol alone. One based in liquid fermentation, one in syngas fermentation, the third in fermenting sugars to produce designer lipids, and the fourth using enzymatic hydrolysis. Two in the EU, two in the US.

Not only a sign of the industry’s capabilities for hitting milestones, but the diverse product and technology range, and fulfill Lee Edwards’ call for projects to demonstrate the viability of cellulosic and waste feedstocks.

Now, if there could just be a little policy stability. How ironic that, just as advanced biofuels become reality, policy stability is now the aspect of industrialization that is “always five years away.”

More on Virent

You can see Lee Edward’s complete ABLC presentation, including an excellent summary of the state of play with Virent’s own technology, here.

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