Earth to Cellulosic Ethanol: Glad You’re Here, What Took So Long?
Jim Lane Part II of II Cellulosic ethanol arrives at scale “The five years away forever” put to rest but are there troubling waters still ahead? For whom, and why? There’s a gigantic disconnect between two sections in the country as to whether the United States should be celebrating the success or the failure of cellulosic biofuels. Supporters and detractors alike saying that the wave of commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol refineries is a new wave in technology or the latest round in a wave of unimportant hype. We looked at the supporters, the detractors, the...
EPA Slashes Corn Ethanol Targets Under Proposed Renewable Fuel Standard
Renewable Diesel Takes Smaller Cut Jim Lane “EPA continues to assert authority under the general waiver provision to reduce biofuel volumes based on available infrastructure,” says BIO. “This is a point that will have to be litigated. It goes against Congressional intent.” In Washington, the EPA released its proposed standards for 2014, 2015, and 2016 and volumes for renewable fuels. The volumes, as widely expected, include substantial reductions from the statutory standards in the original 2007 Energy Independence & Security Act. The EPA also released a 2017 proposed standard for biomass-based diesel. Yet, while attracting significant...
Tax On E85 Renewable Fuel Soars
Jim Lane The US passed a dubious and historic milestone this week. The tax rate on E85 renewable fuels now exceeds 100% in some formulations. By comparison, the tax rate on E10 renewable fuel is running at an estimated 41% and the tax rate on straight gasoline is running at an estimated 35%. As Shakespeare observed in Measure by Measure, “some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall”. Now, the idea of a carbon tax is that governments are supposed to collect more tax against high-carbon fuels. Yet, policy in practice works the other way. The less carbon...
The Proof in Ceres’ Pudding
by Debra Fiakas CFA Judging by stock prices, investors have decided Ceres, Inc. (CERE: Nasdaq) is the favorite horse in the cellulosic ethanol race - at least among those that have publicly traded stocks. Ceres develops and sells sorghum, switch grass and miscanthus seeds to feedstock growers that supply cellulosic ethanol mills. The stock is selling for a buck and change, which is far more impressive that the stocks of most companies that could be included in the “cellulosic biofuel” sector. Ceres announced fiscal second quarter 2014 results at the beginning of this month. The company...
Why Have Ceres’ Sorghum Plans Soured?
Jim Lane Sorghum Bicolor photo by Matt Lavin As Ceres points towards minimal plantings of its sweet sorghum hybrids in its key market of Brazil for next year, investors ask two questions. Will sweet sorghum realize its vast potential, and when? Just when many observers hoped that Ceres, Inc. (CERE) would dramatically expand hectares planted with its Blade hybrid sweet sorghum, the 2014 planting outlook was released last week and the total hectares crashed from 3000 in 2013 to 1000 in 2014. It’s a far cry...
Pacific Ethanol Completes Permitting for Planned Ethanol Plant in Boardman, Oregon
Pacific Ethanol, Inc. (PEIX) announced that it has received all necessary permits to begin construction on a 35 million gallon per year ethanol facility at the Port of Morrow, located on the Columbia River near Boardman, Oregon. The Company further stated that it expects to begin construction, which should take approximately 12 months, within the next thirty days. The Oregon ethanol facility will provide ethanol for the Pacific Northwest gasoline markets, helping to increase supply in that area and provide a CO2-reducing fuel for the transportation sector. It is expected that the plant's distillers grains will be sold...
List of Ethanol Stoccks
This Post was updated on 8/16/21.
Ethanol stocks are publicly traded companies whose business involves producing ethanol alcohol (C2H5OH) made from biomass for use as a fuel in gasoline blends. Common feedstocks include corn and sugar cane. Ethanol is the most widely produced and used biofuel, and all ethanol stocks are also biofuel stocks.
Aemetis, Inc. (AMTX)
Andersons Inc (ANDE)
Archer Daniels Midland (ADM)
Bluefire Renewables (BFRE)
Cosan Ltd (CZZ)
Green Plains Partners LP (GPP)
Green Plains Renewable Energy (GPRE)
MGP Ingredients (MGPI)
Pacific Ethanol (PEIX)
Raízen S.A. (RAIZ4.SA)
REX American Resources Corp. (REX)
SunOpta (STKL)
If you know of any ethanol stock that is not listed here and should be, please let us know...
Ten Solid Clean Energy Companies to Buy on the Cheap: #7 Deere & Co....
The first and last word in any discussion of biofuels should always be "Feedstock." Feedstock is the "Bio" out of which biofuels will eventually be made, whether it be corn, sugar, jatropha, algae, palm oil, switchgrass, forestry waste, or municipal solid waste. Before the era of peak oil, we lived in a world of plenty, which meant that we could squander energy, not only by driving Hummers, but by feeding energy intensive products such as corn crops to livestock, and by dumping "free" sources of energy such as garden waste and used cooking oil into landfills. The era of...
The Andersons: E14 Ethanol Blend
by Debra Fiakas CFA The Andersons (ANDE: Nasdaq) is not one of the first companies that comes to mind as an alternative energy company. However, ANDE has been in the Ethanol Group in our Beach Boys Index for some time. Ethanol is one of six revenue sources for The Andersons, contributing $743 million to the top line in the year 2012. That represents about 14% of The Anderson’s total revenue base. The company produces ethanol in four plants located in the Midwest with a production capacity of 330 million gallons per year. ...
Earnings Roundup: Covanta, NFI Group, Green Plains Partners
by Tom Konrad, Ph.D., CFA
Earnings Season Continues
Below are three more updates on second quarter earnings which I've been sharing with my Patreon supporters. If you'd like to support my writing and see those thoughts in a more timely manner, consider becoming a patron. becoming a patron.
For everyone else, I'm reprinting those thoughts below.
Covanta Earnings
(published August 2nd)
Waste to energy company Covanta Holding Corp (CVA) saw most of its business recovering towards the end of the second quarter. Management is reluctant to predict if the positive trend will continue into the third quarter and for the rest of the year, but...
DowDuPont To Exit Cellulosic Biofuels
by Jim Lane
In Delaware, DowDuPont (DWDP) announced that it intends to sell its cellulosic biofuels business and its first commercial project, a 30 million gallon per year cellulosic ethanol plant in Nevada, Iowa. The Nevada project is still going through start-up.
In an official statement, the company said:
As part of DowDuPont’s intent to create a leading Specialty Products Company, we are making a strategic shift in how we participate in the cellulosic biofuels market. While we still believe in the future of cellulosic biofuels we have concluded it is in our long-term interest to find a strategic buyer for our...
Novozymes Ignites Yeast Wars
Novozymes (Copenhagen:NZYM-B; OTC:NVZMY) moved into yeast this week with a new organism, Innova Drive.
It’s saccharomyces cerevisae — the workhouse yeast that has been powering wine fermentation since the days of Noah and the Ark. But here’s a new strain engineered to cut fermentation times up to two hours, and yield boosts of up to two percent.
A 2% yield increase and a 5% faster rate of production — let’s illustrate it — would mean something like 7.1 million gallons per year of more ethanol from the same standard 100 million gallon nameplate plant. Retailing at up to $10 million dollars, per year (yes,...
Trump Takes Down Ethanol in Pincer Move
by Debra Fiakas, CFA
The Trump Administration is using tariffs on China goods as a trade war tactic to pressure China into relenting to U.S. trade policy demands. Unfortunately, the fallout has been heavy and widespread. Farmers have taken the heaviest hits as China has dropped orders for corn and soybeans. Ethanol producers have been ensnared in the trade war skirmish as well and in recent weeks have been caught an uncomfortable ‘pincer-like’ squeeze by the Trump Administration.
Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency has continued its practice of granting waivers to oil and gas refiners, eliminating the requirement to blend biofuel with the refiners’ petroleum...
Green Plains Primes The Pump
by Debra Fiakas CFA Ethanol producer Green Plains Renewable Energy, Inc. (GPRE: Nasdaq) announced today plans to build a fuel terminal point in Beaumont, Texas. The terminal will be located at a facility owned by Green Plains’ partner in the venture, Jefferson Gulf Coast Energy Partners. It will be helpful to have a friend in the project that is expected to cost $55 million to complete just ethanol storage and throughput capacity. Planned storage capacity is equivalent to 500,000 barrels, with the potential to expand to 1.0 million barrels. Capacity to handle biofuels or other...
Report Alleges EPA Tests Skewed Against Ethanol By Oil Industry Influence
by Jim Lane
In Washington, researchers for a report published by the Urban Air Initiative contend that “technical data that shows the nation has been exposed to decades of flawed test fuels and flawed driving tests, which in turn means flawed emissions results and mileage claims”. The complete Beyond a Reasonable Doubt series from UAI is available here.
Further, EPA emails obtained under the Freedom of Information Act reveal that, according to a report from Boyden Grey & Associates, the Agency appears to have directly solicited financial contributions and technical input, “especially on the fuel matrix,” from an oil industry controlled research organization.
Of the...
Aemetis acquires Edeniq for $23.7M
Jim Lane In California, Aemetis (AMTX) will acquire all of Edeniq’s outstanding shares in a stock plus cash merger transaction. In 2015, Edeniq generated approximately $20 million in revenue and $6 million in positive EBITDA. Headquartered in Visalia, California, Edeniq has 30 employees working at advanced research and development facilities, as well as pilot plants funded through grants from the DOE and the California Energy Commission. Under the terms of the agreement, Aemetis expects to issue between one and two million shares of its common stock (depending on whether Edeniq stockholders elect to receive part of their consideration...
