Green Wombat

Biofuels Startup Taps BP Exec as CEO

Cilion, the corn ethanol startup backed by Khosla Ventures and Richard Branson's Virgin Fuels, has turned to a veteran oil industry executive to lead the California company. Former BP (BP) group vice president Mark Noetzel was named Cilion's new CEO and a member of its board. While at BP in London, Noetzel ran the oil company's retail, fuels transport and wholesaling operations in Asia, Europe and the United States.

Richard Branson's Butanol Bet

Will the Boeing Dreamliner fly on the biofuel butanol one day? Richard Branson's Virgin Fuels, which in April agreed to collaborate with Boeing (BA) on creating commercial jet biofuels, today announced it is investing in Gevo, a Pasadena, California, startup developing technology to turn biomass into butanol. Like corn-derived ethanol, butanol is an alcohol-based fuel but is much more energy rich and can be made from a wider range of biomass like straw and corn stalks. Virgin Fuels joins biofuels guru Vinod Khosla's Khosla Ventures - which initially funded Gevo - in the company's lastest financing round. Virgin and Kholsa are being tight-lipped about the investment, declining to reveal its size or the split between the two investors. You won't find out much more by going to Gevo' one-page site. The company was founded by three California Institute of Technology scientists and licenses its technology from the university. Along with the funding, Gevo announced that it had appointed a former Cargill executive, Patrick Gruber, as CEO. This is just the latest hookup between Virgin and Khosla. Virgin has also invested in Khosla-funded ethanol startup Cilion. Virgin Fuels has outposts in San Francisco and in Palo Alto.

First Commercial Cellulosic Ethanol Plant to Begin Production in 2008

Vinod Khosla's Range Fuels has been given the green light from the state of Georgia to build the first commercial cellulosic ethanol plant in the United States. The Colorado company founded by the Silicon Valley venture capitalist will begin construction of the plant this summer in Treutlen County, Georgia, with production set to start in 2008. Unlike corn-based ethanol, cellulosic ethanol can be made from a variety of biomass matter - from wood chips to grass to cornstalks. It's the great green hope for ramping up production of ethanol while avoiding the greenhouse gas emissions and agricultural impact of corn ethanol. The catch is the cellulosic approach has been expensive and experimental. Range, however, says it has developed a process that reduces production costs and can make the fuel from wood chips, agricultural wastes, grasses, and cornstalks, hog manure, municipal garbage, sawdust and paper pulp. The first phase of the project, which will make ethanol from "wood waste" from Georgia forests, will produce 20 million gallons of ethanol annually, ramping up to 100 million gallons a year, according to Range.

Meanwhile, late last week E3 BioFuels flipped the switch on what it calls the first "closed loop"  corn ethanol plant in Mead, Nebraska. The plant uses biogas produced from cow manure to power the boilers that distill the ethanol. Left over "wet grain" from the ethanol production process is feed to the cattle, which then convert it into...you get the picture.

Feds Invest $385 Million in Cellulosic Ethanol Plants

photo originally uploaded by zadalew

Catching up on yesterday's news, the U.S. Department of Energy announced it's investing up to $385 million in six cellulosic ethanol plants. Cellulosic ethanol is the great green hope as an alternative to corn ethanol. That's because it can be made from everything from fast-growing plants like switchgrass to vegetable waste to wood chips, and it produces significantly lower greenhouse gas emissions than corn ethanol. A host of companies are gearing up to produce cellulosic ethanol, which involves a more complicated technological process. Among them, Range Fuels, a Colorado company backed by Silicon Valley venture capitalist Vinod Khosla's firm, Khosla Ventures. Range is scoring up to $76 million in taxpayer cash over the next four years, which does raise Green Wombat's eyebrows given Khosla's not infrequent criticisms of solar energy as dependent on government handouts. The cellulosic ethanol companies that won the Department of Energy money are mainly startups, but they're backed by some big corporate players. For instance, DuPont (DD) is involved with the Broin Companies of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, while Goldman Sachs (GS) and Royal Dutch Shell (RDS-B) are backing Iogen Biorefinery Partners of Arlington, Virginia. Waste Management (WMI) meanwhile is investing in BlueFire Ethanol, a Southern California company. The six companies are expected to eventually produce 130 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol year.