Biofuels Digest’s SuperData Gold Access update: new projects, profiles

New sector capacity forecast: 6.383 billion gallons in capacity by 2019, based on 334 projects. 

In Florida, Biofuels Digest released the Q1 2014 update for SuperData Gold Access, estimating that 6.383 billion gallons of next-gen biofuels capacity is presently in development around the globe for projects that are expected to be completed by 2019.

The Digest is tracking 334 projects based on information available from public and private sources, and Digest estimates — ranging from pilots to full-scale commercial executions.

Inflection point in 2015-16

The Digest, in its conversations with project developers, is projecting a significant project inflection point in 2015-16 with as much as 3 billion gallons in capacity scheduled for completion in the next 35 months. Actual production will commence at each completed project 6-18 months after completion, when steady-state operations are achieved onsite — and production may fluctuate depending on feedstock pricing.

Much of the potential activity consists of conversion of first-generation plants to advanced biofuels technology — for examples, projects developed by Gevo and Butamax in converting starch ethanol plants to starch-based isobutanol. The figures, therefore, will be in many cases not additive to global biofuels capacity, but represent a shift from first-gen to next-gen. In other cases, technologies may co-locate with existing facilities as bolt-ons.

Capacity projections

The Digest estimates global advanced biofuels capacity, by year, as follows:

2014: 1.711 billion gallons.

2015: 2.904 billion gallons.

2016: 4.841 billion gallons.

2017: 5.838 billion gallons.

2018: 6.303 billion gallons.

2019: 6.383 billion gallons.

The complete data is available via SuperData Gold Access, a subscriber service that provides company, location, capacity, processing technology, feedstock, projected completion dates, and project notes. Plus, SuperData Gold Access – PEOPLE – 3000+ people working at/on the 3oo+ advanced bioenergy projects through 2018 – names, titles, company, contact details. And COMPANY PROFILES – 100+ advanced bioenergy companies – company description, milestones, projects, offtake partners, processing technology overviews, current and planned capacity, project locations, feedstocks and target molecules.

More about SuperData Gold Access here.