Biofuels’ High Hurdle: The Commercialization Challenge

Another driver for forming alliances and partnerships is to make sure that your product, wherever it falls in the overall biofuels process, aligns with producers, says Gray. Qteros realizes that its organism must be able to fit into an ethanol producer’s process. By forming those alliances early, “we’re not working in a vacuum” or “creating something that a producer wouldn’t want to use.”

Number 4: Keep your vision clear and simple.

“Simplicity does matter,” says Baum. Verenium relies on a first-generation technology that works, he says. After hydrolyzing energy sugar cane, it uses off-the-shelf technologies similar to those created for paper-pulping plants and then a gen-1 enzyme mixture to distill cellulosic ethanol. “If someone has a better enzyme cocktail that we can use, then we will use that cocktail,” Baum says.

Imbler agrees that survival hinges on a clear vision and a streamlined technology approach. Integrating many new technologies during the demo and initial commercialization phases adds additional layers of complexity that multiply the risk factors, threatening a business’ ability to make it from R&D to commercialization, he says.

“Remember,” Imbler says, “it’s not the first guy that wins in this business; it’s the first guy that makes money.”