Biofuels

Tom Konrad, CFA Representatives of Dyadic International (DYAI.OB) were quite upset when I called the company "A Stock to Avoid."  The company has now released audited financial statements for 2007 and 2008.  The lack of such statements was one of the several reasons I said to avoid the company.  Should I retract my article? Mark Emalfarb, Dyadic International's CEO sent me an email this morning with attached audited financial statements for 2007 and 2008, saying, I hope that you will act responsibly as journalists and publish a retraction to your article "A Stock To Avoid" which Tom...

Jim Lane Lies, Truth, and Disbelief via BigStock Photo Are you missing out on great investment returns – is the Dow really headed for 20,000? Is the advanced biofuels rally for real? Why are investors sitting on the sidelines in the Valley of Disbelief? This year in the United States, despite awesome returns in the stock market and miserable bond yields, the Investment Company Institute estimates that $85.4 billion in new investment has poured into bonds by contrast, only $73.2 billion into stocks. Seth Masters, CIO of...

Jim Lane Compared to prior generations, CodeXyme 4 and CodeXyme 4X significantly reduce the cost of cellulosic sugar production for biofuels and bio‐based chemicals. In California, Codexis (CDXS) announced the launch of CodeXyme 4 and CodeXyme 4X cellulase enzyme packages for use in producing cellulosic sugar for production of biofuels and bio‐based chemicals. Codexis’ latest generation of advanced cellulase enzymes, CodeXyme 4 for dilute acid pretreatments and CodeXyme 4X for hydrothermal pretreatments, exhibits excellent performance, converting up to 85% of available fermentable sugars at high biomass and low enzyme loads. Combined with high strain productivity using...

Jim Lane Companies creating opportunities in feedstocks are getting lots of love from investors, and giant downstream partners like BP and Shell. What’s up in the new upstream? It has not escaped the attention of investors that Renewable Energy Group’s (REGI) IPO resulted in a $262 million valuation for a company actively earning $2.11 per share through the sale of 200 million+ gallons of biodiesel, while Ceres recently increased the target for its IPO to a valuation above $500 million, despite being, in essence, a pre-revenue company. What gives? The secret, it turns out, is in feedstock. In...

Management shake-up en route to execution, profit Jim Lane The hammer drops in Emeryville. Company president Portela, CTO Renninger, general counsel Tompkins out; new CFO, reshuffle and promotions within. After an 90% stock plunge, Amyris responds. We look at the drama of who’s in and who’s out – but also beyond – to execution and profitable production. In California, Amyris (AMRS)  announced a major management reshuffle as the company contends with its ambitions for growth, difficulties in ramping up production to meet the goals originally set after its IPO, and a share price that has dropped...

Jim Lane Boom times for two-product strategies? Can feed markets offer relief for the challenges on the fuel side? The energy industry continues to feel the impact of falling energy prices. In Wednesday’s Top Story, we noted that the industry conversation has shifted from long-term fundamentals to a form of “oil price watching” not even the short-term fundamentals, but the kind of paralyzed ticker watching, waiting for the bottom, that comes during stock market crashes. “Barron’s says oil is going to $35bbl,” writes a trusted Digesterati. “The same guy who predicted the...

by Ivan Castano Second-generation biofuel IPOs are all the rage this year with recent deals pricing well above initial expectations and a growing number of companies expected to tap the capital markets in coming months. But analysts caution some of these companies will have a hard time wooing investor interest unless they become more transparent about their accounts and future path to profitability. "None of these companies will be earning much any time soon so investors want to see clarity and visibility about the enterprise story behind the companies," says Stacey Hudson, an analyst with Raymond...

Jim Lane Codexis (CDXS) and Mascoma show that low-cost sugar is the key, as advanced biofuels moves from R&D into industrial era. There used to be a restaurant in lower Manhattan called Exterminator Chili. Decorated in Elvis garb, it served world-class chili for the enlightened chow hound, in three grades of heat: residential (hot), commercial (blistering), and industrial (melt steel in your mouth). The proprietors would have understood little about advanced biofuels and nothing about the importance therein of low-cost sugars. But they did understand that the bigger the scale, the hotter you were. And that the highest...

Jim Lane Obama, in trouble on healthcare, sounds the retreat on renewable fuels; industry groups aghast as EPA targets next-generation, non-food biofuels for biggest cuts; slashes corn ethanol also. Major push-back expected following “complete capitulation to Big Oil”. What are the political, economic drivers? What’s the impact, and how will industry respond? In Washington, the EPA released its 2014 proposed standards and volumes for renewable fuels. The volumes, as widely expected, include substantial reductions from the statutory standards in the original Energy Independence & Security Act. The announced proposed volumes met with united...

Jim Lane Algae powered plane photo via BigStock We look back on a big summer for biofuels development: There have been many recent algae biofuel developments, the drought, and the policy fight over the Renewable Fuel Standard. But in many respects, its been a summer about aviation biofuels – starting with the demonstration of the US Navy’s Green Strike Group and continuing to announcements of projects right through the summer. The story has internationalized, the technologies are broadening, and more and more blue-chip players are making...

Jim Lane The Lucas gusher at Spindletop Hill, South of Beaumont, TX. Jan 1, 1901.   500 ton per day wood biomass to biocrude plant commences oil production – the long wait for cellulosic biofuels at scale is over. “With a roar like a hundred express trains racing across the countryside, the well blew out, spewing oil in all directions.” Well, the startup of biocrude production at KiOR, Inc.’s (KIOR)Columbus plant arrived with less drama than the above-described gusher at Spindletop in 1901. And James Dean was nowhere to be...

Jim Lane Mud/salt formations on the Badwater, Death Valley plain. Image by Daniel Mayer. What makes a winner in advanced biofuels? Five companies – Abengoa (ABGOY), INEOS Bio, Mascoma, Gevo (GEVO), and American Process reflect on the essential ingredients for success. “We are industrial technology businesses, making a commodity, we have to control costs everywhere and learn, learn, learn.” – American Process CEO Theodora Retsina You could call it VODville, VOD for valley of death that is – a stretch of hard desert that...

Jim Lane  What’s going on – aren’t biofuels supposed to be dead, and fracking changing everything forever in oil & gas? Yet, tough times for growth at the public oil companies, while bellwether renewable fuel equities are on the rise. Why aren’t results tracking the hype? It’s earnings season time to look away from the pundits, the fans, and the Las Vegas oddsmakers and look squarely at who made how much, where, when and why. And time to draw some conclusions and look ahead towards the 2014 calendar year. Neste Oil (NEF.F) Renewable diesel owner/operator...

Besides a slew of clean car announcements connected to the North American International Auto Show, the alt energy topic that has made media and blog headlines most often over the past week has been alternative fuels. We are thus going to run a 2-part series on alternative fuels this week as follows: ethanol today and coal-to-liquids tomorrow. ETHANOL: INVESTOR FRIEND OR FOE? I’m going to start this post with a statement of opinion: I don’t really like corn-based ethanol (as an investment), I never have, and, as a result, I haven’t followed this space as closely as...

Jim Lane Emerald Biofuels announces new 85 million gallon, drop-in renewable diesel project in Louisiana. Why is renewable diesel scaling up so effortlessly? Partial view of the Dynamic Fuels plant in Geismar, Louisiana Today, the Digest’s round-up on new capacity, R&D, testing, distribution and new feedstocks for renewable diesel. In Louisiana, Emerald Biofuels announced that it will build an 85 million gallon renewable-diesel refineries at a Dow Chemical (DOW)site in Plaquemine, Louisiana. The company will use Honeywell’s (HON) UOP/Eni EcoFining process technology for the production of Honeywell Green Diesel Fuel. Emerald and...

Jim Lane Dire US media headlines abound: “Drought!” What’s real, what’s hype, and what are the impacts? More importantly, what alternatives does science give us now, and in the future, with more drought-tolerant energy and food crops? The Reuters report could not have been more stark this week from a field in Illinois. “We’re in a critical point, could be the beginning of the end,” said Dave Kestel, a farmer, in a Reuters report that ran yesterday. Kestel’s plants in Manhattan, Illinois, the news service reported, “are almost two feet shorter than they should be at...