FUELS & LUBES INTERNATIONAL
Quarter Four 2014
38
F E A T U R E
Inaddition, the use of
more renewable technology,
fuels and feedstocks for different
chemistries and industries is ex-
pected to contribute to efficiency
growth.
At the recent Advanced
Biofuels Leadership Conference
(ABLC) in Washington, D.C., a
panel of experts comprised of
Jim Lane, editor and publisher of
Biofuels Digest, Ronald Cascone,
principal at Nexant Inc., and
David Dodds, president of Dodds
& Associates, evaluated about 20
different companies in the quest
for renewable fuels and lubri-
cants.
Assessing value and potential:
the panelists’ views
Cascone and Dodds, using
only public information from the
companies’ websites, embarked on
an interesting discussion on their
value and potential. Of the 20 or so
companies that were reviewed by the
panelists, they chose eight companies
as their top picks.
Dodds, who has spent nearly
three decades in chemistry and
biotechnology and also runs a suc-
cessful consulting company, outlined
the questions one should ask when
doing due diligence:
What is the intellectual property
of the company (patents, IP strategy,
etc.)?
How well does the process work in
terms of yield (howmuch product is
made from a given amount of start-
ing material), productivity (the time
it takes to produce a given amount
of product) and titer (howmuch
material is present in the fermenta-
tion broth, expressed in grams per
liter, at the end of the fermentation).
All these factors are important in
determining how well a process will
run and how profitable it will be.
Third, and often neglected, is
What’s hot, what’s not
Renewables scorecard:
Great interest inrenewables continues inthe faceof theanticipated increase
indemand for energy. ExxonMobil’s 2014Outlook for Energyhasprojected
thatby2040 therewill be twobillionmorepeopleanda35%increase in
energydemand,whichwouldbeastronomical if not for expectedefficiency
gains. For example, althoughtheaveragevehicle fuelmileagewas only24
milesper gallon (mpg) or 9.8 litresper 100kilometres in2010, this is expect-
edtoalmostdoubleby2040 to46mpgor 5.1 litresper 100kilometres.
By Cristine Amurao
