9 Top Mindbending slides from ABLC

Today: NREL, NexSteppe, Oberon, Cellana, Heliae and industry consultants Paul Bryan and David Dodds with some mindbending insights into the biobased fuels & chemicals markets.

In our final wrap-up from 2014 ABLC, the annual bioeconomy leadership conference in Washington DC., we selected slides presented by CEOs from NexSteppe, Oberon, Cellana, Heliae, plus NREL’s Rich Bolin and top industry consultants Paul Bryan and David Dodds — at the top rank in terms of thought-leadership this week in product mix and company focus.

From NREL, we had an update on the goals and partnership base for the drop-in fuels consortium NBC. From NexSteppe, how drought in Brazil is creating opportunities for intrepid feedstock developers. From Oberon — why a molecule known as DME may well be a transitional winner for establishing biofuels for fleets. From Heliae, a product strategy based on high-value nutraceuticals first, fuels and mainstream chems later in the decade. From Cellana, a strategy where products such as Omega-3s provide the high margins while animal feed and biocrude provide the volume offtake — an “all of the barrel strategy” right out of the petroleum industry playbook.

From former DOE Biomass Program manager Paul Bryan, a thought-provoking slide illustrating — from a chemistry point of view — why products like succinic acid represent the right products to focus on in the near term. From industry consultant David Dodds, a look at why hydrogen production offers fascinating opportunities.

ABLC this year looked at disruptive change in technology, finance and policy — from the development of new routes to financing at scale through UN initiatives, to disruptive technologies coming to scale both in fuels and chemicals, attacking the barrel of petroleum, as it were, from both ends.

Here are selections from the hottest slides presented at ABLC.

1. National Renewable Energy Laboratory

From NREL, we had an update on the goals and partnership base for the drop-in fuels consortium NBC.

2. NexSteppe

From NexSteppe, how drought in Brazil is creating opportunities for intrepid feedstock developers.

3. Oberon Fuels

From Oberon — why a molecule known as DME may well be a transitional winner for establishing biofuels for fleets.

4. Cellana

From Cellana, a strategy where products such as Omega-3s provide the high margins while animal feed and biocrude provide the volume offtake — an “all of the barrel strategy” right out of the petroleum industry playbook.

5. Heliae

From Heliae, a product strategy based on high-value nutraceuticals first, fuels and mainstream chems later in the decade.

6. Paul Bryan

From former DOE Biomass Program manager Paul Bryan, a thought-provoking slide illustrating — from a chemistry point of view — why products like succinic acid represent the right products to focus on in the near term.

7. David Dodds

From industry consultant David Dodds, a look at why hydrogen production offers fascinating opportunities, with Bryan exhorting “embrace hydrogen” as a strategy.