Clean Tech Solutions Must Be The Work Of Many

Due to the excitement following the recent UN summit in Copenhagen, investors and inventors have been able to capitalize on a renewed interest in green technology.  The increase of government spending in clean technologies and efforts to find alternatives to depleting energy sources have also increased the public’s appetite for information.  As Governments all over the world prepare to set emission limits and companies of all types search for ways to reduce their carbon footprint there is a growing demand for proven, immediate solutions.

Unfortunately, even with proven solutions, the reality is technology deployment often takes time.  Because of tradition, lack of concern, and a sluggish pace to letting go of old equipment, industries are not moving toward environmental sustainability at the same pace of public demand. While investing in clean tech is a clear priority for some, the same clarity of need and solution doesn’t exist for all.

In this article, Harvard Business Review compares the problem to Moore’s Law, which claims progress doubles every 18 months. In order to resolve the time gap between invention and implementation, a similar model would need to be created that projects the most efficient and effective technologies against how fast they could be put to use. This would focus inventors’ and investors’ efforts toward a common goal and get the technology deployment on the fast track.

The Partnership Between Industry and Science

The governments’ recent decision to give biofuel research more than $80 million in stimulus money, particularly algae research, is an exciting step towards alternative fuel solutions but strong partnerships between business and science are critical to our success.

Demonstrating that need for partnership, a recent study of Algae fuel conducted by Environmental Science and Technology highlighted algae’s drawbacks and lead to a very strong industry response.  At question, the validity and relevance of the research used.   From the conflict, however, rose the potential for solution as industry and science are discussing options for further studies using different research.

With algae fuel having the potential to have significant impact on day-to-day life, I hope the two groups can bridge the gap and create a partnership to analyze the benefits and risks. Hopefully, this partnership can further accelerate algae oil’s progress.  Together, business and science can bring us all one step closer to algae fuel solutions and serve as an example to all other biofuel industries in need of the same cooperation.

What We’re Reading

Each week, I highlight important industry news stories and trends. Here is some industry news that has caught my eye for this week:

Biotech Soybeans Promise Heart Benefits
Voice of America, January 12, 2010
“Genetically-modified foods have been controversial ever since they were introduced to the market. According to this story, that perception may begin to change thanks to a new variety of GM soybean that promises to deliver health benefits.”

Renewable resources seem to have endless possibilities. From biofuels to heart health, the need to harness their natural potential is imperative and exciting.

Therapists Report Increase in Green Disputes
New York Times, January 17, 2010
“As awareness of environmental concerns has grown, therapists say they are seeing a rise in bickering between couples and family members over the extent to which they should change their lives to save the planet.

In households across the country, green lines are being drawn between those who insist on wild salmon and those who buy farmed, those who calculate their carbon footprint and those who remain indifferent to greenhouse gases.”

This article offers an interesting and different perspective on how ‘green’ is beginning to be incorporated into our lives.   I can say that from personal experience, ‘bickers’ in our house focus on lights left on and recycling!!

Green Business Gains Ground in 2010

As the world becomes more aware of how necessary “going green” is to protecting our future, the need to create environmentally-savvy businesses is growing too. Elevance takes pride in playing an active role in growing the biotechnology industry and working toward further developing high-performance products made from renewable resources.

Toward the end of 2009, Cleantech Group and Deloitte announced that venture capital investments for clean technologies surpassed investments for medical biotechnology and IT.

Clean technology is defined as a “diverse range of products, services, and processes that are intended to reduce or eliminate negative ecological impacts while at the same improving the productive and responsible use of natural resources at lower costs with improved performance.” Cleantech is now said to be the biggest US venture capital category with 27% share.

A report by Greentech Media found that while venture investments in “green” technologies are down from 2008, there is still a strong showing in the wake of the recession. (will quote link in blog) Elevance looks forward to what this new year brings as the green industry progresses and expands.

Elevance Research Efforts Receive Boost

I am often asked to provide examples of products that are made using Elevance’s Nobel-prize winning technology. Currently, our technology can be found in candles, waxes, skin care and hair products available on store shelves across the country. We are constantly searching for innovative ways to bring cost effective, high performance products that are based on renewable feedstocks to more consumers. 

In fact, just last month we announced our research efforts received a $109,500 grant from the United Soybean Board to enhance the use of soybean oil as an ingredient in naturally-derived petrolatum alternatives. 

Soy-based petrolatum is used in beauty products such as lotions that offer a smooth, non-greasy feel and better slip properties, because its performance is equal to or better than traditional petrolatum products.

Through the USB funding, methods will be developed to create more cost-effective manufacturing of petrolatum like products from soybean oil. This successful technology will add a market for soy-based petrolatum equivalent to 3.6 million bushels in just five years. We look forward to the market expansion and bringing additional innovative products to consumers as a result of this collaboration between the USB and Elevance.

What Can Biotech Do For You?

Recently, Elevance worked with the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) on their new “What Can Biotech Do For You” project. The website is an excellent resource on the various ways biotechnology is being implemented into the daily aspects of our lives, and just posted the final part of its 4-part series on what the biotech community is doing to help reduce CO2 emissions.

The two-week series ran to promote the United Nations Climate Conference (COP15) Dec. 7-18 in Copenhagen.  According to BIO, the articles intend to profile “the important role biotech companies are playing in finding replacements for petroleum, as well as developing manufacturing processes that require less energy.”

Elevance contributed to a post about personal care products that contain bio-based emollients rather than petrolatum or petroleum derivatives that can be harmful to both the environment and your skin. The story details the various products we make and the various renewable feedstocks we use.

As stated in the post, “Elevance creates high-performing environmentally-friendly solutions across multiple product categories including cosmetics, cleaners and biofuels, all using locally-available renewable feedstocks such as soybeans. How do soybeans end up in your environmentally-friendly lotions and cleansers? Oil is removed from soybeans and the remaining protein in the soybeans goes into feed for livestock and cattle. Elevance then modifies the soybean oil into emollients, which are sold to major consumer product companies across the country.”

Each story in the series is an example of the fascinating work the biotechnology field is doing to preserve the environment. Included in the series is a story on Segetis, a company that makes cups, cars and building materials out of renewable raw materials; a story on sustainable fashion that profiled Genecor, a company that is revolutionizing the process of bleaching; and a story on Mirel bioplastic, an alternative to petroleum-based plastic created by Metabolix.

To see all these pieces and learn more about biotech, please visit http://www.whatcanbiotechdoforyou.com/.

Which natural personal care products do you like best, and what makes them your favorite? Leave your thoughts below.

Poultry Fat – and a fuller picture of our interest in different feedstocks

Every morning, about 8:20AM or so, I get an email in my inbox from a news crawler service which, ahem, plucks relevant headlines from the web for my attention.  For example, this past week, many of the headlines have been highlighting one aspect of our successful application for the Department of Energy to fund our demonstration plant. The articles have tended to emphasize that oil sourced from inedible poultry fat is one of the feedstocks which we plan to run in the unit.  (Additionally, they thankfully avoided, er, laying an egg by ignoring obviously bad humor.  For example, I was disappointed not to see:  “Flightless bird to provide fuel for planes”, or, “Beak-through technology provides cheapcheapcheap path to renewable chemicals.”

That said, I wanted to take the chance to provide a fuller picture of our interest in different feedstocks.  Using our planned demonstration unit in Newton, we intend to establish and illustrate the viability of our technology to work with a number of natural oils.  These oils include emerging oils like jatropha, algae, and others as well traditional industrial oils like soy, palm, and canola.  There are several characteristics which make different oils more or less attractive.  These include:

· Composition of the oil, which has implications on the cost to process the oil as well as the mix of and value for the end products we would make.

· The extent to which the oil is already produced at scale and consumed in industrial uses

· The proximity of supply sources to the various consumption hubs for our products

· The sustainability of the oil source

· Its market price

In the case of poultry fat, because of its composition, looks like it could be a very interesting feedstock to us because it allows us to make a slate of products with higher average value in the market.  It is worth noting that this is an almost opposite reason to why biodiesel producers like animal fats, which they use because animal fats are less expensive to buy despite causing them product quality issues.

As additional context, the DoE grant framework focused on inedible, domestically produced, high impact feedstocks (meaning they will be produced in high volumes in the near term) and poultry fat is one of the only domestically produced oils which appears to meet this criteria today. Notably, besides projects whose aims were explicitly around growing and extracting oil from algae, ours appears to have been the only project funded emphasizing making chemical products from natural oils.

The US produces only about 1.4 billion pounds (roughly 200 million gallons) of poultry fat each year from which, using our technology, would give us roughly 250 million gallons of products such as high value specialty chemicals, jet fuel type kerosene, petroleum replacing waxes, and others.  Though our DoE grant emphasized poultry fat for the reasons noted above, fundamentally, our technology can work on almost any natural oil. Our unit in Iowa will be useful in providing data for the commercial design of fully feedstock flexible commercial-scale units.

Guest post by Omar Abou-Sayed

Elevance awarded $2.5 million grant by the Department of Energy

Elevance Renewable Sciences, Inc. was selected as one of 19 companies to receive American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding from the Department of Energy to accelerate the construction and operation of pilot, demonstration, and commercial scale facilities. DOE also helped Elevance fund the initial research in 2004.

According to the DOE release, “The biofuels and bioproducts produced through these projects will displace petroleum and accelerate the industry’s ability to achieve production targets mandated by the federal Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). These investments will help close the gap between the production from the small number of biorefineries currently in operation and the aggressive Renewable Fuel Standard goals for cellulosic and advanced biofuels.”

Elevance will use the $2.5 million grant to fund preliminary engineering design for a demonstration scale integrated biorefinery aimed at the production of high value specialty chemicals and advanced biofuels from plant oils and poultry fat. The Elevance Biorefinery is a profitable asset at $45/barrel crude oil and delivers improved profitability of $300-900 per metric ton compared to traditional biodiesel plants.

We also intend to use the funding to research and understand the effect of feedstocks and recycle streams and produce platform chemicals and fuels for market development and performance testing. Elevance anticipates the creation of 40 – 50 construction jobs on-site at the pilot biorefinery, and up to seven jobs as the biorefinery becomes operational.

Pleas check-back here as we continue work on this project, and announce more details.