Amyris Biotechnologies, one of the more successful companies in the emerging biofuels industry, just took another step up, raising $47.8 million from Singapore venture capital firm Temasek Holdings. The company relies primarily on sugarcane-based fuel technology and has brought in an impressive $244 million to date.
Like Codexis, LS9, Mascoma, and Genomatica, Amyris' core business is the bio-engineering of microorganisms that convert sugarcane feedstocks into hydrocarbon-based fuels. The competition between these companies largely depends on who can produce organisms that get the job done faster cheaper, and at the right scale. Amyris is one of the leading contenders.
Distinguishing itself from many biofuel companies producing gasoline additives rather than standalone fuels, Amyris claims that its green diesel fuel can be used with existing legacy technology, including refineries, gas pumps and gas tanks in cars designed to handle fossil fuel-based diesel. This makes it what the industry is calling a "drop-in" fuel.
The importance of new fuel technologies working with old fuel infrastructure tends to be underestimated. People keep their cars for decades, and gas stations stay put for even longer. It's safe to say that green fuels that are not compatible with these systems don't stand a chance. Even the introduction of charging stations to juice up the new wave of electric cars is proving to be a nearly prohibitive challenge.
Scaling fuel production is also a big hurdle for biofuel makers. Many of them have succeeded in proving their technology, or even building pilot and demonstration-scale projects. But that's a long way from generating the millions of gallons needed to make a dent in the petroleum industry.
For now, Amyris is still in demonstration mode, having opened its plant in Brazil last year. But it claims to have bridged the divide between that stage and commercial release. The company says it plans to put its fuels on the market by the end of next year.
Based in Emeryville, Calif., with the bulk of its operations in Brazil, Amyris had previously raised $153 million from backers including Khosla Ventures, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, TPG Growth, DAG Ventures, and Votorantim Novos Negocios.