Biocatalysis

Gevo, the biofuel company focused on development of isobutanol as a biofuel, as well as chemical intermediates derived from isobutanol including isobutylene, t-butanol, and polyacrylates, announced an investment by the French oil giant Total. The amount of the investments and terms were not disclosed. Gevo has also announced plans to bring a 1 Mgy facility online this summer (2009), and is scheduled to deploy its first commercial-scale plant in 2011.

For a self-described “more sober” look at algae-based biofuels production, read this assessment in Biodiesel Magazine.

Sapphire Energy has announced short-term, medium-term, and long-term projections for its algae-based fuel production. The company projects that by 2011 it will be producing 1 million gallons of diesel and jet fuel per year, double its previous estimates. By 2018, Sapphire projects that it will be supplying more than 100 million gallons annually, and by 2025, up to 1 billion gallons of fuel per year. If these projections become reality,  Sapphire will be supplying, all by itself, enough fuel to meet approximately 3 percent of the country’s 36 billion gallon renewable fuel standard and will have established itself as a major biofuels success.

Sapphire’s product is everything a biofuel should be: it is produced from sunlight, CO2, and non-potable water , uses non-arable land, and produces biofuels using a photosynthetic algae as the production organism. Based in San Diego, CA, Sapphire is focused on developing biofuels products that are as similar as possible to petroleum-derived gasoline and aviation fuels, thus requiring no change in fuel transportation infrastructure or retooling of engines. Investors including Bill Gates and the Rockefeller family led a new round of investors in a $100 million infusion of capital late last year, so Sapphire has the financial muscle to carry forward for a while.

Mascoma, developer of technology to produce ethanol from waste biological material without the use of enzymes, is moving company’s corporate headquarters and R & D from Boston into a new research laboratory in Lebanon, NH. Occupancy is planned by by September 2009. Read the press release here.

BioProcessAlgae LLC, a joint effort by Omaha, Neb.-based Green Plains Renewable Energy and three other companies, received a $2 million research and development grant will fund an algae production project at the company’s Shenandoah, Iowa, ethanol plant.

According to spokesman Scott Poor, ”The algae can utilize the carbon dioxide, water and heat from the ethanol plant, so some of the key inputs for algae production are already available.”

The reactor — about 16-feet tall and 3-feet wide — will be placed above the ethanol plant’s fermenter to capture the carbon dioxide, which when combined with incoming light will grow the algae.

The photobioreactor will produce up to 50 tons of algae a year from about 100 tons of carbon dioxide. About 25 tons of the algae will be in the form of oils that they hope can be converted into fuel such as biodiesel. The other 25 tons will be biomass-type products that can be used to make distillers grains, then fed to animals or transformed into more ethanol.

Following in the footsteps of VeraSun, Aventine Renewable Energy Holdings hits the financial wall.

LA Times reports this morning that small ethanol are caught between higher corn prices and competitive big rivals. The larger firms are buying the assets of failed ethanol firms at less than replacement value and becoming highly competitive. ADM and Cargill can just bide their time until smaller firms tottering on the edge of bankruptcy are forced to liquidate assets at bargain-basement prices. Full story here.

The United Nations World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP) has warned that the sharp increase in biofuel production will cause a significant increase in water demand. According to the report, one of the major problems with biofuels is the need for large quantities of water to grow the crops, estimating that between 1,000 and 4,000 litres of water are needed to produce a single litre of biofuel. The report says that, despite their potential to help reduce dependence on fossil energy, biofuels, with current technology, are likely to place a disproportionate amount of pressure on biodiversity and the environment. Coordinated by the WWAP, the report is the result of a co-operative effort by the 26 UN agencies and entities that make up UN-Water. Read the story here.

Following a recent going concern warning by its auditors, Verenium has now announced that John Malloy has resigned. Previously Malloy was Executive VP of Biofuels.

Correcting our April 1 post on Proteus and Agro Industrie Recherches et Developpements (ARD), the partnership is focused on improving the “bioproduction of natural origin molecules” and not cellulases. Proteus had in fact previously announced an agreement with Syngenta to develop improved enzymes for cellulosic ethanol production.