Fulcrum Bioenergy
Fulcrum utilizes new emerging technologies to convert post-recycled municipal solid waste (MSW) feedstock to cellulosic ethanol.  Fulcrum is deploying new technologies in a two-step thermochemical process.  In the first step, MSW received from feedstock suppliers under long-term contracts, will be processed through a down-draft partial oxidation gasifier followed by a plasma arc. In the second step, syngas will be converted to ethanol through an alcohol synthesis process developed by Fulcrum using a new, proprietary catalyst technology. By recycling heat and energy within the MSW-to-ethanol plant, Fulcrum is able to reduce its cost of production to less than $1.00 per gallon.  This represents a dramatic reduction in the cost of production when compared to both conventional ethanol production as well as other cellulosic ethanol production models using agricultural and wood-waste feedstocks.

Reclaim Resources
UK-based Reclaim Resources recently announced the launch of a financial package for UK councils allowing them to install and operate a Vantage Waste Processor without raising funds for project financing. The VWP uses thermal hydration to convert municipal solid waste into ethanol.  In the project financing package, Reclaim keeps all profits for five years, after which the project is turned over to the council. According to Reclaim, Operating a VWP will eliminate landfill tax levies as waste removal is no longer necessary. As landfill tax is set to reach $78 in 2010/2011, local councils will make annual savings of $13 million per year. Additionally, local authorities can augment profits by charging for MSW accepted from external sources.

Enerkem
Enerkem GreenField Alberta Biofuels was recently granted North America’s first unconditional commercial permit ever awarded to produce 10 Mgy of advanced biofuels from sorted municipal solid waste. The Enerkem technology utilizes diverse feedstocks, including sorted municipal solid waste, construction and demolition wood, treated wood and forest residues. The Enerkem technology is currently in operation and new plants are under construction. Since 2003, the company’s technology has been tested at a pilot-scale facility in Sherbrooke, Quebec.  Enerkem’s CEO, Vincent Chornet, confirmed that Edmonton gave  a 25-year commitment for 100,000 tons of presorted material.  The project is slated to commence construction at the end of 2009, and it will take about 18 months to build.

INEOS Bio
The INEOS Bio process is a combined thermochemical and biochemical technology for ethanol and power production.  It is comprised of four main steps:  (1) feedstock gasification, (2) synthesis gas fermentation (3) ethanol recovery and (4) power generation.  The process utilizes a patented fermentation process, where cleaned, cooled synthesis gas is converted selectively into ethanol by a naturally occurring anaerobic bacteria.  The pilot plant has been in operation for 6 years (2003-2009), and feedstocks successfully tested include: wood waste, MSW, sugar cane bagasse, corn stover, and auto shredder residue.

Terrabon
Terrabon’s process is anaerobic mixed culture fermentation followed by chemical conversion of fermentation products into biofuels and bio-chemicals. Depending on chemical pathway chosen, Terrabon can produce mixed primary alcohols (a mix of ethanol, propanol, butanol, pentanol, hexanol and heptanol), mixed secondary alcohols (a mix of isopropanol, 2-butanol, 3-pentanol, 2-pentanol, etc), green gasoline, green diesel and green jet fuel. The company has joint venture arrangements with Valero/Waste Management, and licensing arrangements for larger facilities (300 to 500-ton per day) using agricultural and forest residue, food scraps and non-food energy crops as feedstock, with a target production cost of $2 per gallon or less.

Masada Resource Group
Last month, Masada announced a partnership with California-based entrepreneur Robert Lee in a proposal to build “hundreds” of municipal solid waste-to-ethanol production facilities. The company said that it would target facilities in China, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Japan, Ghana, South Korea, Denmark and France. The company said that its patented CES OxyNol process, converts municipal solid waste (MSW) and sewer sludge to ethanol and other commercial byproducts.  More than 90% of the waste process in a CES OxyNol facility is recycled or converted to beneficial use, according to the company. Masada’s first waste-to-ethanol facility in development in the United States is located in Orange County, New York.  Masada has international projects in development in the Dominican Republic and Switzerland. The company produces yields of 85 gallons of ethanol per dry ton of MSW.

GeoSynFuels
GSF’s technology is simultaneous saccharification and solid-state fermentation for ethanol and potential for other advanecd biofuels such as biobutanol. GeoSynFuels is currently a development company focused on the construction of a continuous pilot plant.  The company has several processing routes that range from treating beetle killed pine for both hemicellulose and cellulose conversion and fermentation to treating waste fiber (MSW, waste paper, etc) whcih requires no pretreatment.  The beetle kill process has a projected price of $1.25 per gallon while the waste fiber process will be less than $1.

BlueFire Ethanol
Last month, cellulosic ethanol pioneer BlueFire Ethanol Fuels announced strategic relocation of its second planned biorefinery to Fulton, Mississippi. BlueFire has completed a 20-month licensing process and is currently awaiting the final financing needed to break ground on its ethanol biorefinery in Lancaster, CA. The Lancaster facility will use post-sorted cellulosic wastes diverted from Southern California’s landfills to produce approximately 3.9 million gallons of fuel-grade ethanol per year.

Range Fuels
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.

Powers Energy of America
Power announced in August that it will apply for a state waste handling permit in the next 45 days, based on one of up to three locations in Lake County, IN. The $285 million waste-to-ethanol project in Lake County will be the first to generate ethanol from municipal solid waste, if it stays on its current timeline, with a construction period of 18 months. Following application for the waste permit, a 90-day comment period will follow before the plant can move to secure up to 15 permits and thence officially commence construction by spring 2010. The company is focused on locations in the towns of Lowell, Crown Point and Schneider, and will handle up to 10,000 tons of waste per day. Opening of the facility is slated for fall 2011.

Agresti Biofuels

Also in August, Agresti Biofuels said that it was seeking to replace $5 million lost for its Pike County waste-to-ethanol project, when an earmark placed by Senator Jim Bunning was removed in a congressional budget review. Agresti is seeking $5 million in private capital towards its $13 million phase one expense. Total cost of the project is $200 million, which will produce up to 20 Mgy of ethanol from municipal solid waste using a gravity pressure vessel technology that produces a net gain in potable water.

Special Digest Update on biofuels made from municipal solid waste is a post from: Biofuels Digest

Obtaining Vital Information – Part III

How do you sift all the available information to find only what you need to help you make sound decisions?  It is worthwhile to know the best sources of information for your business.  Many industries have websites, research reports or other sources that already mined through the more mainstream data.  They have experts that take this data and transform it into trends and patterns.  In fact, once transformed, this data is sometimes called ‘intelligence.’  Though costly, these sources can save hours of time.  These are particularly beneficial if your company does not have a research department or if transforming data is not one of your core capabilities.

Search data to your purpose

As you begin to obtain vital information, one of the Bioenergy PROFITS Principles, highlighted in Dr. Rosalie Lober’s, newly released book, Run Your Business like a Fortune 100: 7 Principles for Boosting PROFITS, you can apply some of the best practices and proven principles of successful biofuels companies for running your business most effectively in this current world of climate change and renewable energy.

A good start is to ask yourself:

• What do I want to accomplish?
• What is the current state of my business
• What is required for my company to become more profitable?

If you are an ethanol producer, or want to learn about ethanol companies you may know that there are six principal advantages to using cellulosic biomass to produce biofuels:

1. use of dedicated energy crops

2. it is comparatively low-cost

3. it uses marginal lands for feedstock growth

4. it has a beneficial net energy balance

5. it uses less fertilizer and water relative to other crops

6. it reduces emissions of greenhouse gases.

The following are examples of some of ethanol companies that will help you search data to your purpose and sort through many of the categories you may be looking for.

• POET

The largest dry mill ethanol producers in the US, Poet is collaborating with Novozymes in the research and development of cellulose ethanol technology. The technology utilizes enzymatic hydrolysis and uses agriculture and biomass feedstock.  Poet will expand their Emmetsburg, Iowa facility to include cellulosic ethanol production from corn hulls and cobs. Completion is expected in 2009.

• Mascoma

Mascoma is developing bio and process technology for cost-effective conversion of cellulosic biomass. Similar to POET, the technology utilizes enzymatic hydrolysis and uses agriculture and biomass feedstock.

• Coskata

Coskata is a biology-based renewable energy company with technology that enables the low-cost production of ethanol from a variety of input material including biomass, agricultural and municipal wastes, and other carbonaceous material.  The company utilizes a gasification technology.

Using proprietary microorganisms and patented bioreactor designs, the company  produces FlexEthanol™, or feedstock flexible ethanol, to fuel energy security, economic growth, and environmental sustainability.

• Verbio

The VERBIO group is one of the leading producers and suppliers of biofuels and also the only industrial-scale producer of biodiesel and bioethanol in Europe. Nominal capacity currently amounts to around 450,000 tons of biodiesel and 300,000 tons of bioethanol per year. The company has developed its own processes and innovative technologies for the production of biodiesel and bioethanol. It supplies its products directly to European mineral oil corporations, mineral oil traders, independent gas stations and haulage companies.

As a biofuel producer with proven CO₂ savings of more than 80%, VERBIO sees itself as the link between agriculture, energy provision and mobility.

• ZeaChem

ZeaChem Inc. has developed a cellulose-based biorefinery platform producing ethanol. Their approach addresses carbon dioxide (CO₂) problems associated with traditional and cellulosic based processes.  ZeaChem’s patented process offers the highest yield ethanol, at the lowest cost, with the lowest fossil carbon footprint of any known biorefining method.

• BlueFire Ethanol

BlueFire Ethanol Fuels, Inc. was established to deploy a patented Concentrated Acid Hydrolysis Technology Process for the conversion of waste materials to ethanol, and other viable alternatives to petroleum derived fuels. BlueFire’s technology has demonstrated production of ethanol and other petroleum displacing fuels from urban trash (post-sorted MSW), rice and wheat straws, wood waste and other agricultural residues. BlueFire uses the Arkenol Technology Process (which has been used in Izumi, Japan since 2002) for creating cellulosic ethanol.

BlueFire is one of four ethanol companies awarded funding from the U.S. Department of Energy to construct a commercial scale cellulosic ethanol production facility. Its biorefineries will be located in markets with the highest demand for renewable transportation fuels thereby dramatically reducing delivery costs while simultaneously increasing the areas biofuel supply and reducing the waste streams sent to landfills.

• Iogen

Iogen operates a demonstration scale facility to convert biomass to cellulose ethanol using enzymatic hydrolysis technology. Full scale commercial facilities are being planned. It is very likely they will announce plans for an Idaho plant that will make ethanol from wheat straw.

• Abengoa

Abengoa constructed the world’s first commercial scale cellulosic ethanol biorefinery in Babilafuente (Salamanca), Spain using some components from SunOpta. In 2006, Abengoa formed a partnership with Dyadic and, Abengoa started conversion of a corn-based ethanol plant in York, Nebraska into a bio-mass ethanol facility, which would initially use small grain straw and corn stover as the bio-mass feedstock

They quantify emissions by means of conducting an inventory of greenhouse gases, with internal regulations established for this purpose, and validate this inventory through an external auditing process. Based on this inventory, plans are drawn up for reducing, compensating and neutralizing emissions.

Abengoa also defined a system of indicators of the sustainability for the company’s use of energy consumption; water consumption; biodiversity; emission of atmospheric contaminants; odor emissions; contaminated water dumping; soil and aquifers; noise; recycling potential of materials and products, undertake improvement actions.

• Verenium

Verenium produces next-generation cellulosic ethanol using advanced enzyme science to reduce the cost of ethanol production that enables the use of a wide variety of biomass. Unlike traditional ethanol manufactured using natural gas or coal, cellulosic ethanol from biomass can be broken down into fermentable sugars using a mild acid or enzymatic hydrolysis. The biomass is hydrolyzed using steam and mildly acidic conditions. This portion of the process creates five carbon sugar (pentose) syrup from the hemicellulose found in the biomass, and prepares the remaining cellulose fiber for further enzymatic conversion into glucose. This is then turned into ethanol. The principal feedstock now being used in Verenium’s pilot facility is agricultural waste from sugar cane production, bagasse.

• Algenol

Algenol Biofuels is an innovative algae to ethanol company, using DIRECT TO ETHANOL™ technology a process powered by the sun.
Algenol’s technology produces industrial-scale, low-cost ethanol using algae, sunlight, CO2, and seawater, producing ethanol at a rate of over 6,000 gallons per acre per year.

The Direct to EthanolTM process links photosynthesis with the natural enzymes to produce ethanol inside each tiny algae cell.  The Direct to EthanolTM technology is the only end-to-end commercial process that stabilizes and reduces CO2 levels and puts CO2 to work.

• Dyadic

Dyadic International, Inc. is a global biotechnology company with the groundbreaking technology that brings nature to the marketplace. Dyadic focuses on the discovery, development, and manufacturing of novel products derived from the DNA of complex living organisms – including humans – found in the earth’s biodiversity.

For over a decade, Dyadic’s designed and developed enzymes for the increasingly efficient extraction of sugars from biomass. Using its integrated technology platform, Dyadic develops biological products such as proteins, enzymes, polypeptides and small molecules for applications in large segments of the agricultural, industrial, bioenergy, chemical and biopharmaceutical industries. Dyadic’s unique technology virtually ensures that each time a useful gene is discovered, it can also be expressed and then mass-produced.

In Summary

It’s easy to veer from seeking solutions to specific issues when faced with the multitude of data available.  Asking yourself three key questions will keep you focused.

• What do I want to accomplish?
• What is the current state of my business
• What is required for my company to become more profitable?

Over the next few weeks we will be exploring the Profits Principles: position for growth, reality, flexibility, integration, test and revise and steering the company, as we continue to explore ethanol companies – looking at their feedstocks and technologies.

Bioenergy PROFITS Principals: Obtaining Vital Information, and Verenium, Dyadic, Coskata is a post from: Biofuels Digest

Balloting will be open to the registered subscribers of the Biofuels Digest, Geothermal Digest and Biomass Digest e-newsletters, through Monday November 23rd at 5pm EST. To cast your vote, click here.

To download your free copy of the Selectors Data Book for Digest subscribers – including 230 pages of company profiles, surveys and industry data, please click here.

“Early precincts” are reporting – 25 percent of the invited selectors have already cast their votes. Though it it far too early to “call” the results, early leaders are:

1. Amyris
2. LS9
3. UOP
4. Sapphire Energy
5. POET
6. Coskata
7. Solazyme
8. Gevo
9. DuPont Danisco
10. ZeaChem

Among subscribers, early ratings are:

1. BP (last year – unranked)
2. POET (last year #4)
3. ExxonMobil (last year unranked)
4. Coskata (last year #1)
5. Novozymes (last year #14)
6. Solazyme (last year #6)
7. Sapphire Energy (last year #2)
8. Shell (last year unranked)
9. DuPont Danisco (last year #9)
10. Chevron (last year unranked)

Overall – four companies are appearing on both lists: POET, Coskata, Sapphire and Solazyme, while Amyris jumped into the top slot in the invited selectors’ poll, and ZeaChem reappeared.

Is your favorite bioenergy company missing? Be sure to cast your ballot in their support.

50 Hottest Companies in Bioenergy: Amyris takes leads in selector balloting as 11/23 vote deadline nears is a post from: Biofuels Digest

Based in: Madagascar

2008-09 ranking: 47

Business: GEM BioFuels is initially focusing on the establishment of ‘company managed’ plantations of Jatropha trees in Madagascar and the extraction of the vegetable oil that is produced from its seeds as this oil is well suited to use in the production of biodiesel.

GEM BioFuels has been established to supply jatropha-based feedstock to the rapidly growing global biodiesel market. The Directors believe that one of the most significant potential constraints on the growth of this market is the relatively limited supply of biodiesel feedstock, and that this provides a significant commercial opportunity for the Company.??Model: ?Owner-operator, in parnership with communes.

Past milestones:
Entered into 18 agreements with Communes in relation to 452,500 hectares of land suitable for the establishment of plantations in Madagascar, which provide it with the exclusive right to establish Jatropha plantations on the land.

To date approximately 13,300 hectares have been planted.

Future milestones:
In addition GEM BioFuels has an agreement in relation to 40,000 hectares containing natural forest, including significant numbers of mature wild Jatropha trees. Separately, the Company also has informal arrangements with a number of individuals for the delivery of wild seed to the Group’s storage facility.

Metrics:
The Company has secured 50 year agreements giving exclusive rights over 452,500 hectares
(in excess of 1 million acres) to establish plantations, ranging in size from 2,500 – 50,000
hectares with a further 40,000 hectares of natural forest containing substantial numbers of
mature Jatropha trees.

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.

GEM Biofuels: 50 Hottest Companies in Bioenergy candidate profile is a post from: Biofuels Digest

Prince Joachim of Denmark opens the Inbicon cellulosic ethanol plant in Kalundborg, Denmark

In Denmark, Prince Joachim inaugurated the 1.4 Mgy, demonstration-scale Inbicon cellulosic ethanol plant in Kalundborg, which is utilizing wheat straw as its initial feedstock. The plant is the largest cellulosic ethanol facility in Europe, and second globally only to the KL Energy project in Upton, WY.

Inbicon and its parent company DONG Energy, the state oil, power and gas firm, confirmed that Inbicon will license its technology for use outside of Denmark, while DONG CEO Alders Eldrup said that the company expects to “construct a few factories also in Denmark.

Inbicon, a DONG Energy technology subsidiary, has invested $80 million in the project, which is co-located with a DONG Energy power plant, and utilizes waste heat from the power plant as a critical cost-reducing inputs in its system.

The plant opening was timed to coincide with the COP 15 Climate Change conference in Copenhagen where the successor to the Kyoto Treaty is scheduled to be finalized. A number of official vehicles at COP 15 will utilize E85 cellulosic ethanol produced by the Inbicon plant. The remainder will be supplied to Statoil Hydro under a long-term offtake agreement, and will appear in E10 ethanol blends in Danish service stations commencing in 2010.

Wheat straw utilized in the Inbicon process

In addition to ethanol, the plant is expected to produce 13,000 metric tons of lignin pellets — which will be supplied to the DONG Energy power plant to replace coal — and 11,000 metric tons of molasses that will be utilized in animal feed.

Inbicon’s technology allows the molasses to be converted to biogas or processed into ethanol if economics warrant further processing of the C5 (xylose) sugars. Currently, only the C6 (glucose) sugars are processed into ethanol, although the company is continuing to improve its technology.

A unique feature of the technology is symbiotic relationship with power production — utilizing waste heat from power gen to eliminate the use of natural gas and costly heating infrastructure in a free standing ethanol plant, which also reduces greenhouse gas emissions associated with production. In addition, the company has pioneered a proprietary pretreatment process and proprietary designs on its first-stage hydrolysis units, where enzymes are first introduced to capture sugars from the lignin and cellulose – both innovations are designed to reduce the energy intensity of the process, thereby reducing emissions and cost.

Inbicon CEO Niels Henriken confirmed that he expected that Inbicon technology would next surface in Southeast Asia, with several sites and projects under consideration. However, a team of executives from Minnesota’s Great River Energy were on hand for the Kalundborg opening, and confirmed that they expect to license or partner with Inbicon on a 20 Mgy cellulosic ethanol project planned for the Spiritwood complex in North Dakota. Like Kalundborg, the Spiritwood project is planned as a symbiosis to capture and convert waste streams from the Great River Energy’s CHP plant currently in operation at Spiritwood.

Inbicon opens 1.4 Mgy demonstration cellulosic ethanol plant in Denmark is a post from: Biofuels Digest

The company said that it expects to reach its $2 per gallon gola by the time the Project LIBERTY 25 Mgy plant opens in Emmetsburg. The company pointed to reductions in chemical raw materials amounting to $0.20 per gallon, plus a 50 percent reduction in energy used in the pretreatment process. The company utilizes corn cobs in its technology.

POET drops cost of cellulosic ethanol to $2.35 per gallon; will reach $2 by 25 Mgy plant opening is a post from: Biofuels Digest

ZeaChem is constructing the semi-works scale biorefinery utilizing skid mounted design, which allows construction of individual process units more quickly in fabrication shops, and the company will obtain more operational data, faster towards its commercial scale-up.

The semi-works plant is expected to have completed construction of its core process by the end of 2010, and is constructed at scale so that all processes are designed to go directly to commercial-scale production.

The company’s technology demonstration hinges on the scale-up of bacteria, acetogens, which ZeaChem uses in its fermentation process. Acetogens are highly robust and, unlike yeast, produce no carbon dioxide (CO2) during the fermentation process, allowing ZeaChem to realize a significant efficiency and yield advantage.

ZeaChem has successfully produced acetogens at the lab scale for over 1,000 fermentation trials of sugars as well as hydrolyzate derived from cellulosic biomass, and Imbler told the Digest “we have completed four 10-times scale-ups at this stage with our organism – we’re looking at this stage to validate rather than verify the data.”

ZeaChem commences construction of 250,000 gallon cellulosic ethanol facility: next step, full commercial scale is a post from: Biofuels Digest

Based in: Virginia
2008-09 rank: 40

Business: Barley ethanol producer

Model: Owner-operator

Past milestones:

Osage Bio Energy (OBE) was formed in January 2007 to build market- based ethanol plants on the East Coast.  Each plant will employ proven bio-processing technologies and carries a capital investment of over $150 million.

OBE plants will be optimized around local, winter barley, but can also process a variety of small grain feedstock.  In October 2008, OBE broke ground on its first plant in Hopewell, Virginia.  The Hopewell plant will be operational in May 2010 and will be the only commercial scale, barley-fed ethanol plant in the United States.   OBE plans to develop at least two more similar facilities.

OBE’s process uses state-of-the-art technologies from a number of industries, the most important example being in grain processing. Incorporating advanced food processing technology, the milling and fractionation of barley grain allows efficient processing of independent grain fractions into high quality product and co-product streams. It also captures the exceptional protein profile found in barley, and the specialized processing and drying methods preserve this in a high quality livestock meal product.

OBE has engineered and packaged these technologies into a unique bio-products plant that will create four highly marketable products:

·         65 millon gallons per year of fuel grade ethanol

·         50,000 tons of renewable biomass fuel pellets from barley hulls;

·         170,000 tons of Barley Protein Meal; and

·         150,000 tons of food-grade liquid CO2.

Future milestones:

Start-up of the Appomattox Bio Energy plant in Hopewell, VA, will be the next major milestone, with longer term plans of building additional barley-based plants. As a deployment company, OBE also looks to develop and build next generation alternative fuel projects.  OBE’s niche is focusing on 2nd and 3rd generation biofuels technologies that are ready to be deployed and then incorporating them into the engineering, design, and construction of an operating plant.

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.

Osage Bioenergy: 50 Hottest Companies in Bioenergy candidate profile is a post from: Biofuels Digest

Balloting will be open to the registered subscribers of the Biofuels Digest, Geothermal Digest and Biomass Digest e-newsletters, through Monday November 23rd at 5pm EST.  The link to the ballot will be distributed this week in every edition of the Digest newsletter.

To download your free copy of the Selectors Data Book for Digest subscribers – including 230 pages of company profiles, surveys and industry data, please click here.

“Early precincts” are reporting – 20 percent of the invited selectors have already cast their votes. Though it it far too early to “call” the results, early leaders are:

1. UOP (last year #10)
2. LS9 (last year #25)
3. POET (last year #4)
4. Amyris Biotechnologies (last year #7)
5. Coskata (last year #1)
6. BP Biofuels (last year – unranked)
7. ZeaChem (last year #11)
8. Sapphire Energy (last year – #2)
9. DuPont Danisco (last year #9)
10. Solazyme (last year #6)

Among subscribers, early ratings are:

1. BP (last year – unranked)
2. POET (last year #4)
3. Shell (last year unranked)
4. ExxonMobil (last year unranked)
5. Coskata (last year #1)
6. Novozymes (last year #14)
7. Sapphire Energy (last year #2)
8. Avantium (last year unranked)
9. Chevron (last year unranked)
10. DuPont Danisco (last year #9)

POET, BP, Coskata and Sapphire have appeared on both Top 10s in voting to date – too early to tell, but it may shape up to be a good year for these four companies.

Over the past week, Gevo and Verenium have slipped out of the top 10 as algae rallied, with Sapphire Energy rejoining the top 10. The big trend this year so far is the advance by companies making drop-in, renewable fuels, with companies such as UOP, BP Biofuels, Amyris and LS9 moving up. 6 of the top 10 now have drop-in fuel capabilities.

In all, more than 160 companies have received votes in this year’s ballot, to date. In all, 17 companies are currently in the “early results” top 50 that were unranked last year — including BP Biofuels, Enerkem, Codexis, Joule Biotechnologies, TMO Renewables, LanzaTech, PetroAlgae and more.

A factor? In a ranking system that rewards “visibility and credibility,” brand recognition is proving to be a factor. Otherwise well-regarded international companies have registered “don’t knows” in the mid to high 80s, including Drystill, RakennusTempo and Shree Renuka. Meanwhile, mainline oil and grain companies are in the teen and low 20s – ExxonMobil, Shell and Chevron having the highest recognition.

But visibility can pay – among companies with “don’t knows” in the 20s and low 30s are POET, Novozymes, Petrobras, Coskata, Sapphire Energy, and Verenium.

Another factor – name changing. HeroBX, Mission New Energy and Qteros had elevated “don’t know” levels after going through name changes.

Is your favorite bioenergy company missing? Be sure to cast your ballot in their support.

POET, BP, Coskata and Sapphire among early contenders in 50 Hottest Companies in Bioenergy underway is a post from: Biofuels Digest

Over the next few weeks, Dr. Rosalie Lober, highlights (from her newly released book, Run Your Business like a Fortune 100: 7 Principles for Boosting PROFITS), proven principles to running your business more effectively and illustrates best practices of currently successful ethanol and cellulosic ethanol producing biofuels companies.

By Biofuels Digest columnist Dr. Rosalie Lober

As we continue exploring ethanol companies, employing the PROFITS Principle of Obtain Vital Information, I personally relied on this principle to guide me through this series.  In the last installment, we discussed there are generally three steps when converting feedstock to ethanol.  Lots of biofuels companies became apparent as a result of researching the feedstocks and technologies.

There are also several companies that use similar technologies to produce different fuels.  These may be renewable diesel, biobutanol, biodiesel as well as ethanol.  When you add the different feedstocks to the mix, the possibilities multiply.

How do you focus on all that’s important and exclude the rest?  You’re probably doing a lot of the right things already if you:

• Decide what you’re looking for

• Clarify your purpose

• Find the best data

Decide what you’re looking for

In actuality, you may not exactly know what you’re looking for.  With the wealth of information available, a linear roadmap no longer exists.  As new bits of data appear in your research, your mind may want to go in a new direction as it puts together important information.

Staying focused is difficult.  You may not trust that you’re on the right path as you begin your research.  It works well to clarify your purpose and what you want to find, with a group of others in your organization.  This approach is a best practice when pursuing a course of action that can withstand interesting opportunities that are distractions, which may veer you off track from your purpose.  Working in tandem with others helps you remind one another of your company’s core capabilities and to find solutions and alternative solutions that position you for growth over the long term.

For example, when looking at ethanol producers, do you want to limit your research to those that use enzymatic hydrolysis, such as POET, Mascoma or Verenium?  Or are you interested in those companies like Coskata that utilize a gasification technology?

Clarify your purpose

Recalling why you are in business and leveraging your mission keeps you focused too.  As simple as this may sound, keeping your company’s mission statement in front you, whether it is on your computer, pasted onto your briefcase or prominently displayed in your conference room, reminds you to stay alert to your goals.  It’s easy to find lots of possibilities and options, yet follow most of these will most assuredly dilute your focus if you stray from your purpose.

You may have a particular feedstock that you want more information about.  Perhaps you are thinking about purchasing a farm or plant.  This goal will influence the companies you research.  Using an instrument like the Biomass Scorecard can help you obtain vital information about the location, land/soil, climate required, density, etc. and can help you to determine a particular feedstock feasibility.

Perhaps you want to research companies that moved from first generation ethanol production to second generation, like POET.  Clarifying your purpose will help focus and limit your information search.

Find the best data

Are you familiar with the reputable sources of information in your area of expertise?  Are you certain of the areas you want to explore?  Is your best data available on the internet?  Do you know the specialized reports that aggregate the data in the field you are most interested in?  Have you checked Biofuels Digest or other reputable world-class publications?

For example, a few days ago Biofuels Digest  reported that $24 million in R&D grants were made available by US Departments of Agriculture and Energy today for biofuels, bioenergy and high-value biobased products. Of the $24.4 million announced, DOE plans to invest up to $4.9 million with USDA contributing up to $19.5 million.  Not too shabby!

In the area of cellulosic ethanol feedstocks, Oklahoma State University (Stillwater, OK) was awarded up to $4,212,845: to develop best practices and technologies necessary to ensure efficient, sustainable and profitable production of cellulosic ethanol feedstocks.  Utilizing large-scale feedstock production research, the economic and environmental sustainability of switchgrass, mixed-species perennial grasses and annual biomass cropping systems will be evaluated, and the synergy between bioenergy and livestock production will be explored.

If you are researching cellulosic ethanol feedstocks, Oklahoma State University would be a very important research project to follow very closely.

In our next installment, we will learn the best practices for searching data to your specific purpose.  Until next time…..

Bioenergy Profits Principles: Obtaining Vital Information, and cellulosic ethanol is a post from: Biofuels Digest