BP Biofuels: 50 Hottest Companies in Bioenergy candidate profile
BP Biofuels
Based in: UK
2008-09 ranking: Not Ranked
Business:
BP Biofuels is a leading global biofuels player, with a breadth of investment that is unique in terms of both its scale and its reach. Producing ethanol today, BP Biofuels has investments throughout the entire biofuels value chain: from sustainable feedstocks, including cellulosic energy grasses, through to advantaged molecules like biobutanol. BP’s close links into other sectors that will be crucial to the development of the biofuel industry, particularly the automotive industry, and its in-depth knowledge of the fuels market and infrastructure, will underpin the biofuels industry’s intentions to grow to be a more material and sustainable part of the global transport fuel market.
Since 2006, BP has announced investments of more than $1.5 billion in biofuels research, development and operations, and has production facilities operating or in the planning/construction phases in the US, Brazil and Europe.
Its joint venture Tropical Bioenergia is producing ethanol from sugar cane in Brazil and represents the largest investment by any international oil company into the Brazilian ethanol industry to date.
Vercipia Biofuels, a joint venture with Verenium, is progressing the development of one of the US’s first commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol facilities, which will produce 36 million gallons of ethanol per year from energy grasses.
In partnership with DuPont, BP is developing the advanced biofuel biobutanol and constructing a technology demonstration facility in the UK.
Also in the UK, in partnership with British Sugar and DuPont, BP is constructing a 110 million gallon per year wheat-to-ethanol facility. In addition, BP has invested $500 million over 10 years in the Energy Bioscience Institute (EBI), at which biotechnologists are investigating applications of biotechnology to energy.
Model: BP operates primarily through joint venture and joint development partnerships with other organizations that have expertise in the technologies and markets required to ensure success. BP brings scale, infrastructure and fuels market knowledge to these partnerships to drive long-term development of the businesses.
Past milestones:
Production of bioethanol from sugar cane: First production at Tropical Bioenergia, Brazil, in September 2008
Development of lignocellulosic biofuels: Technology partnership with Verenium formed in August 2008 to develop and commercialise cellulosic bioethanol technology based off energy grasses such as energy cane and miscanthus.
February 2009: joint venture with Verenium created (Vercipia Biofuels) and plans to construct a 36 million gallon per year commercial-scale cellulosic bioethanol plant in Highlands County, Florida, announced.
Sugar-to-diesel technology: Joint development agreement (JDA) between BP and Martek Biosciences Corporation announced August 2009. JDA will establish proof of concept for large-scale, cost effective microbial biodiesel production through fermentation, from biomass feedstocks.
Metrics: Tropical Bioenergia will invest approximately $1 billion in two refineries, each of which will have a capacity of 115 million gallons. With British Sugar and DuPont, through a joint venture called Vivergo Fuels, BP is constructing a 110 million gallon-per-year wheat to ethanol plant in the UK. The joint venture, Vercipia Biofuels, will be constructing one of the first cellulosic ethanol facilities in the US, based in Highlands County Florida. When operating in 2012, the plant is expected to produce around 36 million gallons per year. In August 2009, BP announced a joint development agreement with Martek Biosciences Corporation to advance technology for the conversion of sugars into biodiesel. BP has invested $10 million. BP has committed $500 million over 10 years into the Energy Biosciences Institute.
BP quotable quotes:
“BP is working with Mendel Biotechnology to develop a range of new energy grass feedstocks that can be used to produce the next generation of advanced cellulosic biofuels.”
“BP’s contribution to the biofuels industry is significant and growing. For our own biofuel operations, our differentiators are: Global scale and reach, and an intent to develop projects that can succeed on a global platform and make a material difference to supplies of sustainably-produced biofuels. Breadth of strategy – covering the entire biofuels value chain, from a range of sustainable feedstocks appropriate to different markets, through to the production of advantaged molecules to meet varied consumer needs: ethanol, biobutanol and biodiesel.”
“As one of the world’s largest energy companies and a major blender, distributor and retailer of transport fuels, BP has core expertise and capabilities in fuel infrastructure, fuel markets and the requirements of the vehicle parc. This experience will be crucial in scaling-up the biofuels supply chain to meet the needs of consumers.”
The Hot 50 for 2009-10 will be released Tuesday, 12/1. Between now and then, you’ll see profiles of potential candidates in the Digest, and you’ll have a chance to vote for your favorites. Reader response will count for 50 percent of a company’s overall score in the preparation of the rankings. The remaining 50 percent is voted by a panel of experts.
Information on registering your own company for the “50 Hottest Companies in Bioenergy” rankings is here. While registration is not required, completing the candidate profile allows companies to augment information provided to the panel of selectors – registration form materials are also used to create candidate profiles that are published daily in Biofuels Digest.
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