Domestic Fuel

According to an article in the Palm Beach Post, Dyadic International, based in Jupiter, Florida, made a huge comeback in 2009 when investors saw their stake increase by 1,253 percent during 2009. Dyadic was featured in the newspaper’s best and worst performers of 2009 for companies based in Palm Beach, Martin and St. Lucie counties Florida. In the biofuels space, Dyadic is best known for its enzymes that are used to convert biomass to glucose.

Last year, the company announced a licensing agreement with Abengoa Bioenergy to sell its patented C1 Technology Platform for the large-scale production of enzymes for use in manufacturing biofuels. They also announced a multi-million licensing agreement with Codexis, Inc in November.

Dyadic Founder and CEO Mark Emalfarb. Photo from TCPalm.com.

However, these recent successes did not come without hardship. As reported by the news media, in 2007 company founder, chief executive and largest shareholder, Mark Emalfarb, was forced out. Emalfarb once again took the company helm in 2008, although the outlook was much starker. During his absence, the stock price nearly dissapated and the shares were dropped from the American Stock Exhange and relegated to the Pink Sheets. But akin to the American success story, Emalfarb turned his company around with several big deals in 2009 and now they are poised as a leader going into 2010.

“With all the clouds lifted, people are seeing the sky very clearly — and it’s blue,” Emalfarb said in the Palm Beach Post. “Shareholders recognize the incredible, miraculous recovery we’ve made, and they’re rewarding us. We obviously are drinking our Kool-Aid.”

The biotech industry would like you to become ‘biotech’. Biotechnology has been responsible for bringing many things to the world including vaccines, cures for cancers, and better ways to grow our food. It is also responsible for developing the natural enzymes that are being used to help spur the growth in the biofuels industry. Enzymes are better for the environment, more efficient and help to lower the costs of producing biofuels, this according to an Industrial Enzymes video segment I just watched that featured the biofuels work of Novozymes. Apparently, this is to be a topic of interest during the Copenhagen Climate Conference.

Today, the Biotechnology Industry Association is asking people to join their “I Am Biotech” movement.  If you join the online biotech community, you will be entered for a chance to win free roundtrip airfare and a complimentary registration to the 2010 BIO International Convention in Chicago.

The site offers insights on the direction of the industry from top CEO’s and thought leaders, networking opportunities, legislative updates, research updates and more. To learn more go to: www.IAmBiotech.org/join.

A new WWF report, “Industrial biotechnology – more than green fuel in a dirty economy,” has concluded that industrial biotechnology could generate between 1 and 2.5 billion tons of greenhouse gas reductions per year by 2030, as well as build a new green economy that works with nature to meet human needs. As such, the WWF is calling for increased political backing for the industry to leverage the positive environmental effects. The findings were peer-reviewed by Novozymes as well as WWF experts.

“In a few years sugar will be the new oil. Already today close to 200 biorefineries are operating in the U.S. and yet we have only seen the beginning. Industrial biotechnology today is a sector with a number of pioneers who are demonstrating that this is technically feasible,” says Steen Riisgaard, CEO of Novozymes. “However, to make the biobased economy into reality, they will require political backing. Novozymes is dedicated to helping ensure a radical shift in the way our societies work, and to reduce our dependency on oil.”

In 2008, the use of Novozymes’ technologies across industries resulted in the reduced CO2 emissions totaling more than 28 million tons – the equivalent of taking 4 million cars off the road.

“WWF sees industrial biotech as an industry that can play a very significant role in the development of a new, green economy if developed in the right way. The world can’t afford to ignore this opportunity,” says John Kornerup Bang, Head of Globalization Programme for WWF.

Click here to read the full press release. Click here to download the full report.

Interested in getting a little insight into how the country will shift from a petroleum-based economy to a bio-based economy? Then look no further than DomesticFuel, or to be more exact, Dyadic International CEO, Mark Emalfarb. Emalfarb was interviewed during the Sixth Annual World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioprocessing which took place in Canada this past July.

The interview was conducted as part of the Biotechnology Industry Organization’s (BIO) I am Biotech campaign. Emalfarb was asked several questions including the importance of biotechnology and biofuels, how biotechnology is helping to heal, fuel and feed the world, how do you demonstrate biotech is the way of the future, and more.

You can watch the first part of  Mark Emalfarb’s interview here and the second part by clicking here.

“Think boldly. Act Responsibly. And don’t give up too easily.” Wise words from Charles (Chad) O. Holliday, Jr., DuPont Chairman of the Board, as he received the George Washington Carver Award for Innovation in Industrial Biotechnology given today by the Biotechnology Industry Organization during the 2009 World Congress. The award was given at a plenary lunch of the sixth annual 2009 World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioprocessing, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Chad Holliday with the GWCarver award and Mark Wright of Iowa State, the recipient of the Carver scholarship.

George Washington Carver is considered one of the founding fathers of modern industrial biotechnology and the award is given to companies who focus on continuing to develop products through sustainable agriculture. Carver’s work inspired leaders of the chemurgy movement, whose proponents looked for ways to replace petrochemicals with farm-derived products. Leaders of the chemurgy movement such as Charles Kettering and William Jay Hale proposed that anything made from a hydrocarbon could be made from a carbohydrate. Today, companies are using industrial biotechnology to manufacture plastics, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and even food ingredients from renewable agricultural resources.

Brent Erickson, executive vice president of BIO’s Industrial & Environmental Section, said of Holliday’s accomplishments, “During Holliday’s tenure as CEO, DuPont invested in biology-based businesses and infused them with its chemistry know-how. For instance, DuPont partnered with sugar processor Tate & Lyle to manufacture 1,3 propanediol, a polyester ingredient made by fermenting sugar. That venture led the company to think about applying its fermentation expertise to making renewable fuels and chemicals in a biorefinery. Under the aegis of the Department of Energy, the firm has worked with several research partners to further the concept and make it commercially viable.”

“Market-driven science discovery and new product innovation are at the very core of DuPont’s business, and industrial biotechnology is a key component of that, ” said Holliday. “Innovation is essential to business growth that provides safer and more secure lives for people everywhere while addressing global energy and environmental challenges. On behalf of all DuPont employees around the world, I am deeply honored to receive an award that recognizes and promotes work toward this goal, especially as it is given by a group of peers who share this vision.”

Accompanying the award is a George Washington Carver scholarship given in the name of Charles O. Holliday, Jr., to Iowa State University graduate student Mark Wright, currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering and Biorenewable Resources and Technology. The award is sponsored by DSM, the Iowa Biotechnology Association and the Iowa Department of Economic Development.

The 31st Symposium on Biotechnology for Fuels and Chemicals is coming up May 3-6 in San Francisco, with more than 800 scientists expected to attend sessions on topics ranging from commercialization of biofuels and their long-term sustainability to emerging technologies and turning algae into fuel.

Government and private sector support for research, development and deployment of renewable fuels and chemicals technologies is at an all time high. This year’s Symposium provides a superb forum for experts from around the world to gather to discuss the latest research breakthroughs and results in this exciting and growing field. This year’s scientific program is designed to facilitate effective exchange of new information and technical progress among attendees from industrial, academic, and government sectors.

The meeting is organized by the Society for Industrial Microbiology, hosted by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and sponsored by the Department of Energy’s Biomass Program. More information is available here.

I spoke with Paul Willems, BP Energy Biosciences Institute, one of our speakers at the Farm Foundation Transition To A Bio Economy Conference. I had met him previously at an earlier conference in the series.

Paul says the BP Energy Biosciences Institute was created as a place to apply modern biology to energy problems. He told us that from their perspective, the turbulant times we’re in right now are temporary and that the fundamental trends for the future are unchanged. Those being the supply of oil and gas and the growth and demand for energy products. He says that their CEO likes to say that, “the future has been delayed, it hasn’t been canceled.”

I think he made a good point in my interview with him that we shouldn’t panic. He says there are numerous technology efforts going on in the alternative fuels industry and that it would be a mistake to see that work evaporate because we live in a world of crisis. He urges a steady course toward the future. He also talks about the benefits of biotechnology in developing more efficient alternative fuel production but points out that the industry is still just in its infancy.

You can listen to my interview with Paul here:

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You can download the interview with this link (mp3).

You can find photos from the conference here:
Transition To A Bio Economy Conference: Global & Trade Issues Photo Album

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (3.6MB)

Like the first speaker on our program today here at the Transition To A Bio Economy conference, our second speaker, David Zilberman, University of California, Berkeley, says we need to increase agricultural productivity.

His talk was on the distributional effects of biofeuls and he had two conclusions. The first one is that biofuels make some people better off and some people worse off. Drivers are better off since they’re getting their fuel for about 15 cents less than if it didn’t have biofuels in it but consumers of food are worse off since the price of food is higher. He says that’s worse in developing countries where they’re seeing food prices 20 to 40 percent higher. This situation he says is causing political instability which will become an obstacle to the development of biofuels.

His second conclusion is that we have to increase productivity. He says that if we don’t we’re in real trouble. In order to increase agricultural productivity he says we must use biotechnology in all crops.

You can listen to my interview with David here:

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You can also download the interview using this link (mp3).

I’m also uploading pictures to a photo album which you can feel free to use if you’d like: Transition To A Bio Economy Photo Album

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (2.1MB)

The state of sustainable agriculture in developing countries will be one of the main issues addressed at the BIO International Convention this summer. The Biotechnology Industry Organization is hosting the convention in San Diego from Tuesday, June 17 through Friday, June 20.

Biotechnology leaders from around the globe will be descending upon San Diego, one of the leading biotech hubs in the world, to discuss the most pressing issues and share their unique perspectives. In addition, there will be a total of 36 regional and country pavilions within the BIO Exhibition with several new pavilions, including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Dubai, and South Africa.

This year’s keynote speakers include Gen. Colin Powell, J. Craig Venter, Ph.D., and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
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Wood-burning isn’t just great for pizza. It’s great for power. Georgia Power is using energy from wood biomass as part of its commitment to use independent renewable power producers.

Georgia Power and Yellow Pine Energy Company, LLC, a biomass-fired facility to be located near Fort Gaines, Ga., recently signed a 20-year contract for electricity that will be generated from environmentally-friendly wood waste. The material will come from timber harvesting residuals and collection of non-commercial tree species, tree-thinnings, lumber scraps and wood waste reclaimed from landfills.

The Yellow Pine facility is scheduled to go into operation in 2010 and will produce 110 megawatts of renewable energy. Under the contract, Georgia Power will purchase almost half of the plant’s capacity, or about 50 megawatts. One megawatt is enough energy to supply a Wal-Mart shopping center or 250 Georgia residences.

Georgia Power provides energy for 2.3 million consumers throughout the state.