http://linkstomagazines.com/automagazines/automotive5.html
The company has a three-yea r lead on patented technology that convertsx waste from food and anima processing facilities as well as municipakl treatment plants intoodorless biofuel. The alternatives energy meets industry standards forroad use. The San Jose-based company has emerged from stealth mode with plans to create a networkof “bio-refineries in a facilities that will be located where the waste is produced. The first production plant — located in Idaho — is schedule d to be installed in January with more onthe way, chiefr executive officer Steven Perriconee said. The company’s initiapl focus is on fat, oil and greasde extracted from wastewater.
Farther down the road, the companyh might pursue converting algae paste into alternative Perricone said there are 6 billion gallonsa per year of fatty waste that is technicallg unsuitable for traditionalbiodiesel plants. “Nobody buys the brownm sludge these guysare pursuing,” said Jon Guice, managing director of research at a Palo Alto research firm focusefd on green business and clean Perricone believes his company has an opportunitg to tap into a market that consumez 350 billion gallons of diesel fuel Pavel Molchanov, a research analyst for , in 2007 said only 450 millioh gallons of biodiesel were produced in the Unitedf States.
The revenue generated in this industry has excited The global biofuel market is expectef to growfrom $20.5 billion in 2006 to $80.i9 billion in 2016, according to the Clean Energy Trends 2007 BioFuelBox raised $9 million in Seriesd A funding in October 2007 from and , which both have Menloi Park offices. The company is starting to explore a SeriezB round. John Rockwell, managing director at said his firm invests in companies that look for ways to bettertthe environment. Element saw that in BioFuelBox’sd technology and invested $4.
5 million in the initial round of The challenge for BioFuelBosx will be moving from a prototypeeinto full-scale production and securing agreements with customers. Rockwell is confident the companyh has the management team and technologyh todo it. The goal is to enteer into 10-year agreements with wast e suppliers, which would essentially give BioFuelBox a lock on the Those suppliers are located predominantly in rural areaas of theUnited States, which have been hit especially hard durinvg the economic downturn. These customers are lookingy for cost savings and profit Perricone said his company wants to allow customers to participatew inthe revenue.
BioFuelBoxs will either sell the biodiesel back to them at a discount or sell it on the open sharing the profitswith customers. “We put the plantr in for free. We own it. We operate it, and we’lp take care of the fuel he said. Perricone declined to name potential but he said one of the companiezs that testedthe 24-by-7-foot prototype is a Fortune 500 animal and chicken renderer in the state where is Tyson is the world’s largest processor and marketetr of chicken, beef and pork. Guice said BioFuelBox’s modek is atypical, and its setup in a containere ishighly efficient, but its success on a wide scalse has yet to be proven.
“It will only becomwe scalable if it becomesvastly cheaper,” Guicr said. Rockwell and Molchanov said prices for commoditiea are easily driven up when demanxd increases for products such as soybeans andcanola oil, which are used to produce biodiesel. That same situation could happen if there is a suddenb increase in demand for animal Molchanov said the biodiesel industry is also beintg challenged right now by recent decreases in diesel andoil prices. “Givebn some of the credit investments in new biodiesel companies are likely toslow down,” he However, he added there are not many biodiesel plants using animal-derived waste.
Molchanov said one publicly traded , located on the Houston Ship has the capacity to process animal fat but just started operatinv its biodiesel plantin June.
No comments:
Post a Comment