Gevo restarts isobutanol production at Luverne: what’s happening now, what happened?

The path to full production

“For now,” Gruber notes, “we are currently operating in single train mode. It is easier to manage one fermenter and one GIFT separation system while we learn how to run the plant at full scale. Also, it is a more efficient use of corn feedstock and we gain valuable operating experience as we go.”

Having said that, one fermenter at Gevo scale is, ahem, not exactly nothing — given that they are operating at million liter scale.

Let’s put that in the context of some other highly-successful paths to scale. Genomatica is operating at around 600,000 liter scale, Solazyme has reached 500,000 liter-scale, and we understand that Amyris is operating at something around 200,000 liter scale at the moment. Each company will find the scale that is right for their process — it is not the case that 500,000 is inevitably better than 200,000 although economies of scale apply.

The point is, operating in single-train mode with a million liter fermenter is akin to operating two at Solazyme scale, or more at Amyris scale.

The expectation is that Gevo will have all of its fermentation units running at scale by year end, and the company continues to aim towards its critical delivery dates in 2015 for its clients.

In today’s Digest, we look at the Gevo-Butamax dispute, and the bottom line, via the page links below.