What’s your biofuels venture worth?

Which technologies perform better than others with today’s feedstock costs, financing terms and fuel prices? Is your technology better, or miles better?

The Digest’s updated Biofuels Venture Valuation Calculator provides a quick comparison tool.

In Florida, Biofuels Digest released an updated version of its Biofuels Venture Value Calculator, downloadable here.. The purpose of the calculator is to assist project developers to quickly compare their basic system economics to other existing technologies for processing biomass into transport fuel and other co-products.

The free, downloadable Calculator offers 12 basic “business cases” for technologies such as “cellulosic ethanol,” “Cellulosic ethanol with loan guarantee”, “renewable diesel with 15 cent sugar” – based on estimates from projects whose costs have reached the public domain.

“These are estimated costs and a basic calculator to simplify comparisons for the layman,” cautions Digest editor Jim Lane, “and should not be used as a definitive statement as to the value of a given technology sector at this time. Companies that have better economics can, and should, add new columns to the Calculator reflecting their superior performance, and if these are based on confirmable data, we will be happy to add these in future releases.

“The Calculator can show, for example, how changes in, for example, loan guarantees or tax policy could affect the economics of a given system. Private companies rarely share their complete up to date process economics, and individual company economics can vary widely based on production rate, yield, titer, co-product prices, biomass cost, enzyme cost (if any), process improvement and capital expense.  ”

With those caveats, the Calculator does reveal some basics reasons why technologies such as biobutanol add-ons, cellulosic ethanol from MSW (with loan guarantees) and pyrolysis-based systems that can produce a stable fuel oil are the next-generation technologies that have had the most traction in this phase of advanced biofuels development.

In addition, the Calculator can show the impact that, for example, reduced operating expenses or co-product value can have on making algal biofuels ventures financially feasible. It also shows the impact of feedstock cost and loan guarantees can have on the feasibility of, for example, cellulosic ethanol. Also, the  immediate impact that subsidies can have in making early-stage technologies pencil out in the nearer term.

Since its initial release last year, primary changes to this years figures include updates on biomass costs, fuel prices, and the elimination of subsidies and updates on co-product pricing. Get the calculator here.

The actual companies on the platform at ABLC

Even better than a calculator is the real deal – here are the biofuels CEOs that will be accessible at the Advanced Biofuels Leadership Conference (April 2-5, Washington DC) to provide the latest on their technologies and progress towards commercialization.

Celluosic ethanol
Michael Burnside, CEO, Catchlight Energy
Martin Mitchell, Business Development Manager Biofuels, Sud-Chemie AG
Jim Imbler, CEO, ZeaChem
Theodora Retsina, CEO, American Process
Bill Brady, CEO, Mascoma
Jennifer Holmgren, CEO, LanzaTech

Drop-in fuels
Jonathon Wolfson, CEO, Solazyme
Ed Dineen, CEO, LS9
Lee Edwards, CEO, Virent
John Melo, CEO, Amyris
Hunt Ramsbottom, CEO, Rentech
Gary Luce, CEO, Terrabon, Inc.
Kevin Weiss, CEO, Byogy Renewables
Robert J. Johnsen, CEO, Primus Green Energy
Robert Graham, Chairman and CEO, Ensyn Technologies
James Rekoske, General Manager, UOP

Biobutanol
Pat Gruber, CEO, Gevo
Bob Mayer, Chairman and CEO, Cobalt Technologies

Corn Ethanol
Todd Becker, CEO, Green Plains Renewable Energy

Algae-based biofuels
Tim Burns, CEO, BioProcess Algae
Kevin Berner, President and CEO, Phycal
C. J. Warner, President and Chairman, Sapphire Energy

Cellulosic and sugarcane ethanol
Phillip New, CEO BP Biofuels

Feedstocks, enzymes and low-cost sugars
Carl Rush, Senior Vice President, Organic Growth Group, Waste Management
Daphne Preuss, CEO, Chromatin
Richard Hamilton, CEO, Ceres
Kef Kasdin, CEO, Proterro
Maud Hinchee, Ph.D. CTO, Arborgen, Inc.
Peter Strumph, iCEO, Codexis
Deborah E. Dodge, Senior Manager, Product Marketing, Biomass Business Development, Genencor
Philippe Lavielle, CEO, Virdia

More information on the conference including registration links, here.