Solazyme Ranked 1 in '50 Hottest Companies in Bioenergy' for 2009-10

Thursday, Dec 03, 2009

Renewable oils developer Solazyme took the #1 spot in the 2009-10 "50 Hottest Companies in Bioenergy" rankings, published today in Biofuels Digest, the online daily bioenergy news service.

The list recognizes innovation and achievement in bioenergy development .The rankings were based 50 percent on votes from a 75-member panel of international selectors, and 50 percent on votes from subscribers of Biofuels Digest, the world's most widely read biofuels daily.

POET (#2), Amyris Biotechnologies (#3), BP Biofuels (#4), Sapphire Energy (#5) Coskata (#6), DuPont Danisco Cellulosic Ethanol (#7), LS9 (#8), Verenium (#9) and Mascoma (#10) round out the top 10.

Ranked #11 through #20 are, respectively, Novozymes, UOP, Gevo, Range Fuels, Abengoa Bioenergy, PetroAlgae, Synthetic Genomics, Petrobras, Bluefire Ethanol and Zea Chem.

Among the Hot 50, 34 were US-based companies and 16 were from other countries, 19 are active in cellulosic ethanol development, seven are developing algae-to-energy systems, and 15 are producing "drop-in" renewable biofuels such as biobutanol, renewable diesel, green gasoline and renewable jet fuel.

Overall, more than 1,000 companies were eligible in the rankings and 311 companies received votes. Amyris Biotechnologies ranked #1 in the international selector panel, while DuPont Danisco Cellulosic Ethanol ranked #1 in the subscriber poll.

New companies in the list this year include:

BP Biofuels (#4), PetroAlgae (#16), Enerkem (#25), Genencor (#26), Royal Dutch Shell (#27), ExxonMobil (#29), Joule Biotechnologies (#32), Codexis (#35), Renewable Energy Group (#37), Rentech (#38), Praj Industries (#39), Neste Oil (#40), LanzaTech (#41), Solix (#44), Chemrec (#45), Terrabon (#47), Fulcrum Bioenergy (#48), SG Biofuels (#49), and Inbicon (#50).

"These companies are the hottest of the hot," said Jim Lane, editor and publisher of Biofuels Digest. "Innovation in renewable energy is gaining velocity, and a slew of advanced bioenergy systems are coming to market from some of the brightest biologists, chemists, agronomists and engineers in the world."

The 50 Hottest Companies in Bioenergy for 2009-10 are:

Last year's rank (2008-09)

1. Solazyme 6 2. POET 4 3. Amyris Biotechnologies 7 4. BP Biofuels NR 5. Sapphire Energy 2 6. Coskata 1 7. DuPont Danisco 9 8. LS9 25 9. Verenium 36 10. Mascoma 8 11. Novozymes 14 12. UOP 10 13. Gevo 27 14. Range Fuels 5 15. Abengoa Bioenergy 20 16. PetroAlgae NR 17. Synthetic Genomics 19 18. Petrobras 16 19. Bluefire Ethanol 13 20. ZeaChem 11 21. Qteros 15 22. Virent 3 23. Iogen 18 24. Algenol 35 25. Enerkem NR 26. Genencor 25 27. Royal Dutch Shell 27 28. Ceres 31 29. ExxonMobil NR 30. Cobalt Biofuels 17 31. Aurora Biofuels 33 32. Joule Biotechnologies NR 33. Syngenta 32 34. KL Energy 21 35. Codexis NR 36. IneosBIO 22 37. Renewable Energy Group NR 38. Rentech NR 39. Praj Industries NR 40. Neste Oil NR 41. LanzaTech NR 42. OriginOil 45 43. Choren 44 44. Solix Biofuels NR 45. Chemrec NR 46. Dynamotive 41 47. Terrabon NR 48. Fulcrum Bioenergy NR 49. SG Biofuels NR 50. Inbicon NR

Biofuels Digest is the world's most widely read biofuels daily. The Miami, FL-based free online magazine and email newsletter published more than 3,000 news stories on bioenergy in 2009, and serves 47,000+ newsletter and website readers in more than 200 countries. The Digest covers bioenergy production, research, policy and financial news. Sister publications include Biomass Digest and Geothermal Digest.

Source: PR Newswire