Transformative Technologies 2011: Raizen, Dow in trouble in first day voting

In Florida, #3 seed Raizen was in early trouble with voters in the first round of the 2011 Transformative Technologies tournament, with 14th seeded Abengoa Bioenergy taking 62 percent of the votes in first morning polling in their week-long one-on-one contest.

The Raizen-Abengoa match was one of two “Goliath vs Goliath” matchups. In the other, #7 seed Waste Management has taken 66 percent of the votes over #10 seed Dow Chemical.

Among key #8 vs #9″ seed match-ups, DSM clings to a 51% share of the votes, going up against Neste Oil, while INEOS Bio is pulling down 63 percent of the votes in its match-up with Dynamic Fuels, the JV of Tyson Foods and Syntroleum.

In the SynthBio blow-out, Ceres has taken a 60-40 lead over Synthetic Genomics, while Sapphire Energy is taking 63 percent of the vote over Mendel Biotechnologies (the latter just now coming out of a low-profile mode).

In a “David vs Goliath” match-up, Algenol and Monsanto are locked in a tight contest, which Monsanto currently leads 53-47 percent. Another tough fight is KiOR vs Butamax, with KiOR expected to win handily after completing a celebrated IPO this summer – but KiOR is only polling 54 percent at this stage, too early and too close to call.

The surprise of the day’s voting is Raizen – the joint venture of Shell and Cosan which includes Shell’s holdings in Codexis and Iogen. The $10B Brazilian giant was expected to steamroll opponents in the early rounds, but has run into stiff opposition from Abengoa Bioenergy, which is moving along in its plans to build a small commercial cellulosic ethanol plant in Kansas by 2013.