Traction: 13 companies gaining momentum in advanced bioenergy

As readers sift through the 380 pages of the “Selectors Data Book” (or not) as they make choices for the 50 Hottest Companies in Bioenergy, the Digest will be highlighting groups of companies that have made recent strides in achieving that mix of “visibility and credibility” that make a company one of the Hot 50, out of more than 1,000 companies eleigible in the competition.

Today, we look at companies that, in the month of November, have made material strdes towards commercialization – through securing of funding, commencement of construction, offtake deals, or in other ways.

AE Biofuels – ethanol from cellulosic industrial sugars – California

AE Biofuels announced that it has closed a $4.5 million financing with Third Eye Capital Corporation. The funds will be used for the repair, restart and operation of an existing 55 million gallon per year ethanol plant located in Keyes. AE Keyes plans to retrofit the Keyes plant and be fully operational by the first quarter of 2011.
The original $130 million construction and commissioning of the plant was completed in November 2008 by Cilion, Inc. In early 2009 the plant was closed due to technical and market issues. AE Keyes took possession of the facility under a project agreement with Cilion in March 2010, and has signed a facility lease for up to three years.

BlueFire Renewables – ethanol, drop-in fuels, chemicals from waste – Mississippi

Last week, BlueFire indicated that it has obtained its final air, wastewater, and storm water permits from the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) to start construction. Other permits issued related to the Project include a wetlands permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and a Certificate of Permit Coverage under Mississippi’s storm water general permit  from the MDEQ.  The Fulton Project will be constructed within an industrial park where infrastructure exists or requires only minimum upgrades to serve the project. The project site, controlled under a long term lease with Itawamba County, has access to rail, interstate highways and barge for maximum flexibility in receiving materials and shipping products.   With issuance of the required permits, the County jointly with the City of Fulton, has commenced work on the initial activities of clearing, rough grading and drainage improvements under a contract with Century Construction, a Mississippi based contractor.

Cobalt Technologies – biobutanol from industrial cellulosic sugars – California

Cobalt Technologies announced a partnership with the U.S. Navy to develop technology for the conversion of biobutanol into full performance jet and diesel fuels. Under the agreement, n-biobutanol produced by Cobalt will be converted to bio-jet and biodiesel fuels using technology developed at the U.S. Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division (NAWCWD) in China Lake, CA.  More specifically, the combined team will optimize dehydration chemistry for the conversion of bio-n-butanol to 1-butene, followed by oligomerization of the biobutene into jet fuel, based on a process developed at NAWCWD.
Additional work will focus on converting the biobutanol into butyl ether, which the NAWCWD has shown can be mixed with n-butanol and other compounds to create a viable drop-in diesel fuel replacement. In addition, Cobalt will have an option to obtain an exclusive license to commercialize process improvements, made under the CRADA, for the production of all military and civilian transportation fuels.

Butamax – biobutanol from corn, sugarcane – UK

Tim Potter, CEO of Butamax, outlined the Butamax commercialization strategy at the second and final day of the Advanced Biofuels Markets conference in San Francisco, California. Previewing the bolt-on biobutanol technology that Butamax is expecting to commercialize with corn as a feedstock by 2012, and sugarcane by 2013-14, Potter confirmed that the company is in discussions for “conversions…that’s with an s” in the United States, and is expecting to focus on Brazilian sugarcane for export.  Potter said that the company is proceeding with engine testing and fleet trials, which will take two years, and said that he expects the fuel to enter the market with a blend rate of up to Bu16, under a biobutanol waiver that was granted to Dupont, which has partnered with BP to form Butamax.

Fulcrum Bioenergy – ethanol from waste – Nevada

Fulcrum BioEnergy announced that it received a detailed indicative loan guarantee term sheet from DOE and has begun the negotiation process to advance the loan towards closure and funding for its Sierra BioFuels Plant project. The plant will be located approximately 20 miles east of Reno, Nevada in Storey County, and will produce 10.5 million gallons of ethanol annually along with 16 megawatt’s of renewable electricity by processing post-sorted municipal solid waste – household garbage. When operational in 2012, the project will reduce our nation’s dependence on foreign oil, significantly lower carbon emissions and stimulate economic growth in Northern Nevada by creating 53 full-time and more than 450 temporary green jobs.

Gevo – biobutanol from industrial cellulosic sugars – Colorado

Gevo announced last week that it received notification that its isobutanol had successfully cleared registration with the U.S. EPA as a fuel additive. The company said that its isobutanol is the first isobutanol to be listed in the EPA’s Fuel Registration Directory and is now approved for blending with gasoline.
Gevo’s isobutanol can be used directly as a specialty chemical, as a gasoline and jet fuel blendstock, and through conversion into plastics, fibers, rubber and other polymers. Gevo will soon begin the retrofit of its first 22 million gallons per year (MPGY) ethanol facility in Luverne, MN to produce 18 MGPY of isobutanol.

INEOS New Planet BioEnergy – ethanol from industrial cellulosic sugars – Florida

Early this month. INEOS New Planet BioEnergy awarded the EPC contract to build its 8 million gallon per year advanced bioenergy facility in Vero Beach to AMEC of Tucker, GA. The facility will also produce up to 6 MW of renewable power from municipal solid waste and yard and wood residues, enough to power more than 4,000 residences.
INEOS New Planet BioEnergy is a joint venture between INEOS Bio and New Planet Energy, which received a $50 million grant from the DOE last year towards construction of the INEOS New Planet demonstration plant.
The heart of the INEOS Bio technology is a patented anaerobic fermentation step, through which naturally occurring bacteria convert gases derived directly from biomass into ethanol. The INEOS Bio process can produce ethanol and renewable energy from numerous feedstocks, including construction waste and municipal solid waste, forestry and agricultural waste.

PetroAlgae – drop in fuels, feed from microcrops – Chile

PetroAlgae announced it has entered into a non-binding offtake supply agreement with Sky Airline, a leading Chilean airline providing passenger, mail, and cargo air transportation services. Subject to certain conditions, Sky Airline and PetroAlgae have agreed to collaborate to enable Sky Airline to purchase the fuel feedstock produced by licensees of PetroAlgae’s technology as a feedstock for conversion into renewable jet fuel.

Petrobras, Cosan – distribution of ethanol from sugar cane – Brazil

Petrobras announced earlier this week that it has set up an ethanol distribution network with five companies including Cosan SA Industria e Comercio SA, 20%; Copersucar SA, 20%; Odebrecht Transport Participacoes SA, 20%; Camargo Correa Oleo e Gas SA, 10% and Uniduto Logistica SA, 10% at a total of $58 million. All of the companies except for Copersucar have already carried out studies on  ethanol pipeline distribution projects.

Rentech, Solena – drop in fuels from waste – UK

Last week, Solena signed a letter of intent to license Rentech’s proprietary Fischer-Tropsch synthetic fuel technology in Solena’s sustainable BioJetFuel project – GreenSky – in the United Kingdom. The facility will convert more than 500,000 metric tonnes of waste biomass feedstock into synthesis gas every year, using Solena’s proprietary plasma gasification technology.  The BioSynGas will then be processed by Rentech’s Fischer-Tropsch technology into 16 million gallons of sustainable synthetic jet fuel and nine million gallons of BioNaphtha  The facility will also export more than 20 megawatts of baseload renewable power to the grid after powering the entire facility with clean electricity.

Meanwhile, Rentech this week announced that its synthetic RenDiesel® fuel will power an Audi A3 TDI in the Green Cars LA Auto Show Ride & Drive event, hosted by Green Car Journal. The four-day, 1000 mile endurance drive, part of the ‘2010 Green Car of the Year Tour’, demonstrated that synthetic drop-in RenDiesel fuel and diesel vehicles such as the Audi A3 TDI provide viable solutions to improving the environment and can contribute to a decreased reliance on imported oil.

SG Biofuels – jatropha “2.0” – California

SG Biofuels announced last week that it has established a strategic partnership with Bunge North America to research and develop a model to process Jatropha seeds into a biofuel feedstock. With the announcement, Bunge joins Flint Hills Resources, a subsidiary of Koch Industries, and Life Technologies among strategic partners working with SG Biofuels’ technology to develop Jatropha as a viable source for cost- effective, sustainable crude plant oil.

The move represents the latest of a series of tie-ups between Bunge and a selection of the most promising advanced biofuels technologies. In the last year, Bunge has signed agreements with Amyris and SG and invested in Solazyme, as part of what the company described as a $2.8 billion plan in 2010-12 to expand Bunge’s oil, sugarcane and ethanol interests, following the firm’s $1.5 billion acquisition of Moema. The Moema deal earlier this year made Bunge the third-largest ethanol producer in Brazil, following only Cosan (CZZ) and Louis Dreyfus.