Biofuels

Dana Blankenhorn I am a big booster of alternative energy. Harvesting the wind, the Sun, the heat of the Earth, the tides – I'm there and NIMBYs be damned. But I am increasingly having second thoughts about one type of green energy. Corn-based ethanol. (I would toss in sugar cane, too, but America doesn't grow enough to matter here.) Corn ethanol was one of the first biofuels to find a market. Pushed by companies like Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) and Cargill, corn ethanol is now an integral ingredient in many blends of gasoline. It is...

Jim Lane As Gevo recommences the switchover to bio-based isobutanol at its first commercial plant, we look in-depth at 2012′s contamination issues and the prospects and path forward. In Colorado, Gevo, Inc. (NASD:GEVO) announced that it has resumed commercial production of isobutanol at its Luverne, Minn. plant in single train mode, successfully utilizing its proprietary Gevo Integrated Fermentation Technology (GIFT). “I am pleased to report that we have been successful in operating our full scale fermentation and our GIFT separation system that separates the isobutanol from the fermentation broth. This serves to further validate our...

Andersons Inc. (ANDE) will conduct a groundbreaking ceremony April 27, 2006, at 11:30 a.m. for its 110 million gallon ethanol plant in Clymers, Indiana. When completed by the first quarter of 2007, the Clymers plant will be the largest of its kind east of the Mississippi River. Along with the 110 million gallons of ethanol, the plant will produce 350,000 tons of distillers dried grains, an animal feed ingredient.

by Debra Fiakas CFA A continuous quest to find companies that can turn sales into profits has turned up an unlikely font of cash.  Dyadic International (DYAI:  OTC/PK) is a developer of industrial enzymes.    Back in the day the company sold enzymes to the rag trade to create those fancy jeans with the stone washed look.  More recently Dyadic has worked with Abengoa (ABGB: NASD) and Codexis (CDXS : NASD) in support of their renewable fuel processes. Dyadic uses the fungus Myceliopthora thermophila in a fungal expression system for gene discovery, expression and the production of...

With oil and gasoline prices rising ever higher, investors are shifting attention to alternative energy stocks as a promising high-growth sector. A particular area of interest is ethanol stocks and forthcoming ethanol IPOs. Here are companies recently reviewed on Seeking Alpha Archers Daniels Midland Company (NYSE: ADM) Pacific Ethanol (PEIX) Xethanol (XTHN) VeraSun (VSE) MGP Ingredients (MGPI) Aventine Renewable Energy (AVR) Green Plains Renewable Energy (GPRE) Andersons Inc. (Nasdaq: ANDE) Veridium Corporation (VRDM)

Jim Lane Eight technologies, seven public stocks – who’s adopting what, who’s in the lead? Perhaps you have written off ethanol as a bum investment. That’s understandable. Though, as a general rule, all acts of mind-closing should be made while chanting Michael Dell’s mantra from 1997, writing off Apple as a bum investment. It’s a good chant, you could try it. Here’s how it goes. “What would I do?” Hari Rama. “I’d shut it down.” Rama Krishna. “And give the money back”. Krishna Rama. “To the shareholders.” Rama Rama. Missing the biggest gold rush. Krishna Hari....

Jim Lane  It’s like the selling of Ginsu knives, the legal dispute between these two companies. No matter how much you hear….but wait, there’s more! This week, we heard from Butamax that the District Court of Delaware has issued an order scheduling two further rounds of patent infringement actions pending between Butamax and Gevo (GEVO) for resolution. The next phase of litigation, involving three Butamax patents asserted against Gevo, will begin in September 2014 with the discovery process and trial is scheduled for August 2015. Thereafter the remaining cases, involving three other Butamax patents asserted against Gevo,...

Jim Lane No appetite for 200 pages of IPO-speak in Mascoma’s S-1 registration statement? Here’s our 10-minute version. In Massachusetts, Mascoma Corporation announced that it has filed an S-1 registration statement relating to a proposed $100 million initial public offering. The number of shares to be offered and the price range for the offering have not yet been determined, and the company has not indicated yet which exchange it will apply to for a listing of its shares. Here’s the S-1 registration, in a conveniently downsized 10-minute Digest version – with some commentary along the way...

This entry continues a series on companies I sold as part of a portfolio cleanup prompted by the mess on Wall Street.  In the first entry I described what I plan to do with the cash, followed by the reasons why I sold Carmanah Technologies and Pacific Ethanol.  UQM Technologies was one I didn't sell.   I have not  mentioned Dynamotive Energy Systems (DYMTF) before.  I have mixed feelings about the company.  They use fast pyrolysis to make cellulosic biofuels, which I believe will prove to be one of the more economic pathways to cellulosic biofuels.  However, I believe that...

by Debra Fiakas CFA Algae powered plane photo via BigStock No one has been more disappointed than me in the failure of algae-based biofuel operations to achieve commercial production  -  at least so far.  The model is beguiling:  feedstock for biofuel production in the form of oils produced by simple and widely available algae that can thrive on carbon dioxide, an otherwise be a toxic emission.  However, scale seems to have eluded algae-base biofuel producers. GreenShift Corp. (GERS:  OTC/BB) recently shifted its focus...

Jim Lane The first gas fermentation technology to come to the public markets: Coskata files its $100 million IPO. Here’s our 10-minute version of the filing, with a translation of the risks into English. In Illinois, Coskata has filed an S-1 registration statement for a proposed $100 million initial public offering. The number of shares to be offered in the proposed offering and the price range for the offering have not yet been determined. The lead book-running managers for the offering are Citigroup, Barclays and Piper Jaffray. The company is currently ranked #17 in the world...

Jim Lane In Colorado, Gevo (GEVO)  reported Q2 2015 revenues of $8.9M compared with $7.7M for Q2 2014, and Q2 loss of $6.5 million, compared with $9.0 million in Q2 2014. The increase in revenue during 2015 is primarily a result of the production and sale of approximately $8.0 million of ethanol, isobutanol and distiller’s grains at the Luverne plant. Hydrocarbon revenues were $0.8 million, primarily related to the shipment of bio-jet fuel and isooctane during the quarter. The company highlighted a flight planned with Alaska Airlines, an upcoming wood waste-to-fuels flight with an undisclosed airline,...

Bill Paul In the wake of the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill, it’s clear the U.S. needs to end its crude-oil addiction as much to protect its economy as the environment. To move the future forward, America needs one company in particular to come through on behalf of all Americans. In a cruel twist of fate, that company is ExxonMobil (XOM), which is working on arguably the most important energy-research project in the world today. Namely, a project to replace crude with genetically-modified algae that can be cost-effectively refined using existing refinery equipment. A year...

Jim Lane The Wilmington Express Dupont (DD) is accelerating, after acquiring Danisco in a $6B 2011 takeover. Next stop – expansion in cellulosic biofuels and biobutanol. They’re bullish on biofuels and getting more so as their technology and vertically integrated strategy comes together. More than a year ago now, Dupont took a giant additional leap into industrial biotechnology with the acquisition of Danisco and its star subsidiary, Genencor. Immediately on the bioenergy front, the Dupont Danisco joint venture in cellulosic ethanol, memorably named Dupont Danisco Cellulosic Ethanol, dropped the “Danisco” in its moniker. ...

Preparing for a world in which financing will be much more difficult to come by, I have been selling companies which are likely to need financing in the next couple of years.  A listing of the companies I've discussed so far is at the end of this entry. My sale of Nova Biosource Fuels (AMEX:NBF) continues my general moves out of biofuels, also discussed in my entries on Pacific Ethanol and Dynamotive Energy Systems.  I have long argued that electric propulsion is a superior way to power ground transport than even "Second Generation" biofuels such as cellulosic ethanol.  My...

Jim Lane Commemorative plaque at Burned Wagons Point, Death Valley. Photo by Philippe Pierre As bio-based companies race across the Valley of Death, in the dash for scale, who’s getting financing now, and how? The path to financing success in bio-based project development used to be a little less complicated. Raise seed money from friends and family.  Series A and B with your friendly local VC, to prove the concept and build a pilot. Bring in a strategic for the Series C and D and the...