| | | | | | Top Story
 Why don't oil majors invest in biofuels at scale?
Conventional wisdom says $100 oil helps biofuels, $150 oil even more. Not so. Why an oil price crash would help. Why biofuels companies are turning to chemicals.
In recent weeks we have tracked a significant number of migrations among early stage biofuels producers from a "fuel centric" strategy to an emphasis on renewable chemicals, organic acids, food oils, and nutraceuticals.
We sometimes think this publication ought to be renamed "High-Value-Co-Products-or-anything-please-God-that-makes-money-quickly Digest".
Amyris and Gevo are touting their chemicals capabilities in their IPO filings over the past three months. Cobalt Biofuels has been rebranded under Cobalt Technologies (actually, its original name) - while companies like Myriant have attracted huge talents from the renewable fuels space.
Are biofuels pure-plays a thing of the past? What is the secret for tapping oil major balance sheet investment? Who are the Yin and Yang of the investment space? Where's the gosh-darned money for taking hot technologies to scale? A full report at biofuelsdigest.com.
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"Biomass energy doesn't hurt anyone. Not yet." Download the ARCADIS Health & Safety PDF here. To learn more about our Health and Safety experts contact: Ashly.Insco@arcadis-us.com
| | Producer News
In Florida, enzyme producer Dyadic International announced that it completed a private placement of $3 million in convertible subordinated secured notes with two investors.The Notes will be convertible into shares of Dyadic common stock at a conversion price of $1.82.
In South Dakota, Genesis Ethanol I is going up for a sealed bid auction, to be conducted by Maas Companies. The plant is a 2 to 4 MGy facility, that cost $6 million to design and build. The facility both purchased its corn and sold its ethanol locally. Potential buyers are being given the opportunity to choose whether or not to try and operate the plant in Sioux Falls, or to dismantle the plant.
In Connecticut, Constitution Biofuels grand opening is scheduled for Saturday. The plant produced its first 250 gallon batch of biodiesel last week, but the fuel needs to pass a battery of tests before it can start commercial sales.
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| | Opinion
Bob Fletcher, Capitol Weekly: "The science clearly and unequivocally supports the fact that there are greenhouse gas emissions associated with land use changes resulting from the growing of corn to produce fuel. The important debate surrounds the magnitude of these emissions impacts, and science-based issues of land use change is precisely what world-renowned scientists in the expert workgroup are meeting on a regular basis to discuss. "
"Dr. Peabody", responding in Capitol Weekly: "It is accurate to state that "there are greenhouse gas emissions associated with land use changes resulting from the growing of corn to produce fuel". That's not where the debate lies, however. There is considerable disagreement within the science community regarding how to go about determining whether land use changes actually occur, who causes the changes and also how to accurately measure the impact."
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| | Advanced Biofuels Markets Conference
 Biofuels Digest's Advanced Biofuels Markets conference & expo will be held November 9-10, 2010 in San Francisco.
The premier biofuels C-level networking event on the West Coast.
Bunge-Solazyme tie up: Jonathan Wolfson, CEO, Solazyme
Confirmed speakers include:
Bill Haywood, CEO LS9
Jim Imbler, CEO ZeaChem
Alan Shaw, CEO, Codexis
Atul Thrakar, CEO, Segetis
Eric McAfee, CEO, AE Biofuels
John McCarthy, CEO, Qteros
Kirk Haney, CEO, SG Biofuels
Jack Oswald, CEO, SynGest
Hunt Ramsbottom, CEO Rentech
Richard Hamilton, CEO, Ceres
Wayne Simmons, CEO, Sundrop Fuels
Bill Sims, CEO, Jouel Unlimited
John Scott, CEO, PetroAlgae
Rick Wilson, CEO, Cobalt Technologies
Tim Potter, CEO, Butamax
John Hamer, Managing Director, Burrill and Company
Tom Baruch, Founder, CMEA Capital
Bill Hagy, Director of Alternative Energy Policy, USDA
Tim Cesarek, MD, Organic Growth Group, Waste Management
Dan Adler, President, California Clean Energy Fund
Wes Bolsen, CMO, Coskata
Mike McAdams, President, Advanced Biofuels Association
Register:The conference agenda and registration information is here.
Sponsor: Sponsorship & exhibition information is here.
| | International News
In Canada, Solarvest BioEnergy has started a R&D agreement with Dr. Suzanne Budge of the Canadian Institute of Fisheries Technology at Dalhousie University. Dr. Budge will help Solarvest in the characterization of algal fatty acids and lipids.
In Hungary, U.S. Ambassador Kounalakis was present at the ground breaking of the Pannonia Ethanol plant in Dunaföldvár. The plant should begin production of 63.4 MGy ethanol and 192,500 tons of animal feed for local farmers. The U.S. company Fagen will be building the plant.
In Slovenia, the country's first biodiesel-powered energy plant was inaugurated. The Panonica Energetika facility, which is a part of the Panonica agricultural cooperative, will produce 1MW of electricity along with 1MW of thermal energy and cost $1.63 million to build. Its annual biodiesel consumption will be 1.8 million metric tons.
| | Research News
In Indiana, Purdue University researchers Wallace Tyner, Farzad Taheripour and David Perkis researched the impacts of the classic fixed biofuel subsidies against variable incentives. Their finding: better to have no subsidy at $90 oil, a $0.175 per gallon subsidy at $80 oil, and add another 17.5 cents per $10 drop in oil prices.
| | Policy and Policymakers
In Illinois, a group of farm and industry leaders including the Illinois Corn Growers have sent a letter to President Barack Obama encouraging him to impose an E12 blending policy immediately. They insist that 12% ethanol blending will do no damage to cars and must be an interim step until the EPA approves E15.
| | 50 Hottest Companies in Bioenergy
 Registration for the Hot 50
Selection criteria, eligibility, voting, and scoring rules are available here. Also, deadline dates, downloadable nomination and registration forms for companies, and nomination forms for serving on the panel of international selectors.
| | Financial News
The Biofuels Digest Index™ (BDI), a basket of public biofuels stocks, fell 0.96 percent to 63.20 on broad market declines stoked by recessionary fears. For the day, Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) slipped 0.46 percent to $29.97, while in the oil PetroAlgae (PALG.OB) fell 49.72 percent to $10.05. Overall, declines led advances by 2 to 1 for the day.
| | Camelina Aviation Biofuels Study
 1 billion gallons of Camelina biofuel are projected to be produced for the aviation and biodiesel sectors by 2025, creating 25,000 new jobs; producing over $5.5 billion in new revenues and $3.5 billion in new agricultural income for U.S. and Canadian farmers. The projections are contained in "Camelina Aviation Biofuels Market Opportunity and Renewable Energy Strategy Report," released today by Biomass Advisors, the research division of Biofuels Digest.
"Camelina Aviation Biofuels Market Opportunity and Renewable Energy Strategy Report," is 116 pages, and includes more than 60 figures, tables and charts, along with regional crop forecast maps for visualizing business opportunities and planning infrastructure needs. The report is available for a purchase price of $695. More information here.
| | These stories and more are available at BiofuelsDigest.com. Your comments and story requests are warmly welcome: email me at jlane@biofuelsdigest.com.
Digest Staff:
Editor & Publisher: Jim Lane
Senior editors: Joelle Brink, Meghan Sapp, Marc Favreau
Assistant Editor: Thomas Saidak
Editorial Assistant: Isabel Lane
Columnists: Will Thurmond, Dr. Rosalie Lober
Director of Sales: Steve North
Disclosure: I do not own any renewable energy securities; no payments or compensation of any kind is received in return for placing articles or favorable opinion in the Digest - Jim Lane, Editor and Publisher, Biofuels Digest.
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