Billionaire Bailouts v. Biofuels
Trump in a pickle: support his beleaguered EPA Administrator over oil refinery bailouts, or rally his Midwestern farm-state base?
In Washington, Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa tweeted:
“I’ve supported Pruitt but if he pushes changes to RFS that permanently cut ethanol by billions of gallons he will have broken Trump promise & he should step down & let someone else do the job of implementing Trump agenda if he refuses.”
Grassley explicitly called on Pruitt to back a key campaign pledge from 2016 that helped unlock farm state support and propel Trump into the White House.
1/19/16 Trump at IA Renewable fuels summit: EPA...
Neste Sells 1 Billionth Gallon of Renewable Diesel
Neste reaches 1B gallons renewable diesel sale, runs in fire trucks, ambulances and school vehicles
In Texas, Neste U.S., Inc. (NEF.F, NESTE.HE, NTOIF, NTOIY) is celebrating its 1 billionth gallon of Neste MY Renewable Diesel sold in North America which has effectively helped reduce more than seven million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions in the Earth’s atmosphere. This is the equivalent of removing 1.6 million passenger vehicles from the road for one year.
“There’s never been a better time to take a closer look at the steps we’re taking to ensure we’re leaving our planet in a healthier state for future generations,”...
Velocys Rocks With Red Rocks
by Jim Lane
In the United Kingdom, renewable fuels company, Velocys (VLS.L, OXFCF), received a “notice to proceed” action to commence manufacturing of the Fischer-Tropsch reactors and catalyst for the Red Rock Biofuels biorefinery that will be located in Lakeview, Oregon. RRB has commenced construction of the biorefinery, which will incorporate Velocys’ technology, and produce low- carbon, renewable diesel and jet fuel. Velocys’ role will be as a licensor for its technology to the project.
Red Rock’s construction is estimated to take 18 months, with operations planned to start in 2020. RRB is a subsidiary of IR1 Group LLC, which has 325 million gallons...
There’s Hydrogen In That There Biogas
I don’t suppose that anyone actually dreams of hydrogen, but in the bio-economy there just isn’t quite enough of it and we read about it and sometimes think about it so much that we might as well be dreaming about it.
For those newer to the field, one of the problems of using biomass to make a fuel is that a carbohydrate contains around 53% oxygen by weight and needs about 16% more hydrogen that it contains to make a hydrocarbon fuel. That’s one of the reasons that biofuels are often esters (such as biodiesel) or alcohols (such as ethanol),...
Fortunately, Unfortunately: The Spring Saga of American Ethanol
by Jim Lane
The ethanol signals from Washington DC are more inexplicably mixed than cocktails with names like Sex on the Beach. Let’s parse through the wigwagging over the future of American biofuels supply and demand — ethanol and otherwise.
Fortunately: Trump backs year-round E15 ethanol blends
In Washington, President Trump endorsed year-round E15 ethanol availability as an emerging compromise between oil refiners and US farm sector.
The Renewable Fuel Standard is a federal program that requires transportation fuel sold in the United States to contain a minimum volume of renewable fuels. The RFS originated in a bi-partisan Congress with the Energy Policy Act...
List of Biofuel Stocks
Biiofuel stocks are publicly traded companies whose business involves transportation fuels or any other form of liquid fuel made from plant or animal feedstocks (also called biomass). Included (but listed separately) are ethanol and biodiesel stocks.
Algae-Tec, Ltd. (ALGXY)
Amyris, Inc. (AMRS)
Andersons Inc (ANDE)
Archer Daniels Midland (ADM)
Calyx Bio-Ventures Inc. (CLX.V)
Ceres, Inc. (CERE)
Codexis, Inc. (CDXS)
Dyadic International (DYAI)
Dynamotive Energy Systems (DYMTF)
Gevo, Inc. (GEVO)
Green Earth Technologies (GETG)
GreenHunter Energy (GRH)
Greenshift Corporation (GERS)
Metabolix, Inc. (MBLX)
Neste Oil (NEF.F,NESTE.HE,NTOIY,NTOIF)
Novozymes (NVZMY)
Rentech (RTK)
Viral Genetics, Inc. (VRAL)
If you know of any biofuel stock that is not listed here or in the lists of ethanol or biodiesel stocks, and should be, please let...
List of Biodiesel Stocks
Biodiesel stocks are publicly traded companies whose business involves producing biodiesel made from oils and fats for use as a fuel diesel engines, either alone or blended with petroleum derived diesel. Common feedstocks include soybean oil, palm oil, and waste oils from the food industry. Biodiesel is the most widely produced and used advanced biofuel, and all biodiesel stocks are also biofuel stocks.
This list was last updated on 7/20/2022.
China Clean Energy Inc. (CCGY)
FutureFuel Corp. (FF)
Green Star Products, Inc. (GSPI)
Greenshift Corporation (GERS)
Methes Energies International (MEIL)
Neste Oil (NEF.F)
PetroSun, Inc. (PSUD)
RDX Technologies, Inc. (RDX.V)
If you know of any biodiesel stock that is...
List of Ethanol Stoccks
This Post was updated on 8/16/21.
Ethanol stocks are publicly traded companies whose business involves producing ethanol alcohol (C2H5OH) made from biomass for use as a fuel in gasoline blends. Common feedstocks include corn and sugar cane. Ethanol is the most widely produced and used biofuel, and all ethanol stocks are also biofuel stocks.
Aemetis, Inc. (AMTX)
Andersons Inc (ANDE)
Archer Daniels Midland (ADM)
Bluefire Renewables (BFRE)
Cosan Ltd (CZZ)
Green Plains Partners LP (GPP)
Green Plains Renewable Energy (GPRE)
MGP Ingredients (MGPI)
Pacific Ethanol (PEIX)
Raízen S.A. (RAIZ4.SA)
REX American Resources Corp. (REX)
SunOpta (STKL)
If you know of any ethanol stock that is not listed here and should be, please let us know...
Europe’s New Renewable Energy Directive
by Helena Tavares Kennedy
You may have heard that the European Parliament voted in favor of the RED II (Renewable Energy Directive) proposal in January. Probably the most notable (or at least covered in the news the most) was their decision to remove biodiesel made from palm oil from its list of biofuels that can count towards the EU’s renewables target from 2021.
It also voted that “biomass fuels consumed in transport, if produced from food or feed crops, shall be no more than the contribution from those to the gross final consumption of energy from renewable energy sources in 2017 in that Member...
Aemetis’ Cellulosic Ethanol From Orchard Waste Project
by Jim Lane
There were more than 100 presentations at ABLC last week and not a clunker amongst them, but if I were to point the reader’s attention at one or two that stood out from the rest because of the short-term or long-term implications, I’d start with the news from Aemetis (AMTX) that they are embarking now on a $158 million cellulosic ethanol plant — to be built in Riverbank, California, in partnership with LanzaTech.
Cellulosic ethanol is selling for such a high price in California right now — the value jumps north of $4.00 per gallon at times —...
Novozymes Ignites Yeast Wars
Novozymes (Copenhagen:NZYM-B; OTC:NVZMY) moved into yeast this week with a new organism, Innova Drive.
It’s saccharomyces cerevisae — the workhouse yeast that has been powering wine fermentation since the days of Noah and the Ark. But here’s a new strain engineered to cut fermentation times up to two hours, and yield boosts of up to two percent.
A 2% yield increase and a 5% faster rate of production — let’s illustrate it — would mean something like 7.1 million gallons per year of more ethanol from the same standard 100 million gallon nameplate plant. Retailing at up to $10 million dollars, per year (yes,...
New Biodiesel Vehicles and Emissions Reduction Estimates
The makers of the world’s favorite advanced biofuel — a/k/a the biodiesel industry — descended upon Texas to mingle, make and renew ties at the 2018 National Biodiesel Conference. And, to champion new ideas and find new supply chain and distribution partners.
Bummer that there wasn’t a biodiesel tax credit extension on offer. (UPDATE: The new budget includes the biodiesel tax credit.) Bummer that diesel’s getting a bad rap in the press. Bummer that Tom Petty isn’t with us any more to sing:
“I’ll Stand My Ground, I Won’t Back Down,
I know what’s right, got just one life
in a world’s that keeps on...
Biodiesel Tax Credit Back In US Budget Deal
by Jim Lane
In Washington, the US Congress passed its budget deal, and among the items in the deal was a retroactive restoration of the $1 per gallon biodiesel tax credit for 2017. The bill did not include a provision for 2018 and future years.
The budget compromise had run into headwinds in the Senate, in the form of a voting delay imposed by Rand Paul of Kentucky, while opposition in the House from a group of Democrats and hardline conservatives had put the bill into some degree of jeopardy.Renewable Energy Group CEO Randy Howard said “We are pleased that Congress recognized...
Biofuels M&A: 2017 Review and Outlook
by Bruce Comer, Ocean Park Advisors
More industry players chose to develop and build new capacity rather than buy plants
The North American biofuels industry experienced the fewest merger and acquisition transactions in recent history in 2017. There were only six M&A transactions, with a total estimated value of more than $100 million. They involved eight plants with 297 million gallons per year (MGPY) of production capacity. Half of these deals were for non-operating plants. A fourth deal was for a sub-scale demonstration plant. Contributing to the limited deal flow, two historically active acquirers, Green Plains and REG, did not close...
Fiberight: A Deep-Dive Into Trash To Find Cash
by Jim Lane. Biofuels Digest
This week Fiberight secured $70 million for a municipal solid waste center that should be in operation by this May. The high-tech facility will convert 180,000 tons of trash each year from more than 100 Maine towns into biofuel at a 144,000-square-foot steel frame facility that began construction last July.
We visually profile the technology and company in our Multi-Slide Guide here.
The underlying facility is what’s known as a Dirty MRF, or materials recovery facility. That’s where the receiving happens and the sortation begins — and the process of recovering value back from the waste stream begins.
The bottom line...
A Decade Of Unexpected Curves In The Bioeconomy
By Jim Lane
Over the years we’ve all seen a lot of curveballs in the advanced bioeconomy. You see companies like Valero, which lobby the United States Congress with unbridled intensity to get rid of the Renewable Fuel Standard, on the verge of becoming the single-biggest producer of RINs in the United States (with news that they might take capacity at Diamond Green Diesel up to 540 million gallons).
You see companies like Solazyme which love the Renewable Fuel Standard and drive up to nearly a billion-dollar post-IPO valuation based on delivering fuels at volume, then announcing that there are even...
