Biotech

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million with fuel giant . The two companiesw plan to build the biggest cellulosic ethanoo plant inthe country, in Florida. Verenium (Nasdaq: is just one of the many biomass-related venturess gaining traction in which has a long history of investmeng and research in thebiotechnology sector. Roughly $200 million in ventures capital has poured into the local sector over the past twoyearx — a flood of moneh for a sector that saw virtuallyh no local investment prior to 2006, accordingf to data provided by Dow Jones VentureSource. As of last the state had roughly 30 companies focused on the production and distribution of biomass productxand services, according to the .
Cellulosic ethano is biomass madefrom non-food plantsx and waste — for instance, grass or sewage insteadf of corn. In Florida, you can grow 18 to 20 tons of grassezper acre, per year a tremendous advantage over the growing potential in But Carlos Riva, Verenium’s president, says the company’sd headquarters will remain in Massachusetts. “The reasoj to be here is the business the qualityof people, the sourcexs of innovation and the support of the he said. Indeed, the Bay State’s biotechnology sectodr has proven a fertile breedinfg ground for startups seeking to convert biomas s into alternatives tofossil fuels.
Jim Lane, the editorf of the national dail newsletterBiofuels Digest, agrees with Riva’a assessment. “From both an investor and producerd pointof view, the top five bioenergy clustersw are San Francisco, San Diego, Seattle, the Corn Belt and Massachusetts.” Lane said the region’s strength in this field can be attributed in large part to the strengtjh of the technology coming out of the area’zs universities. But he said another importanr factor is that because the venture capital community is used to funding biotechnology they are used to the risk and long time horizones that also come withthe sector’s energy-focused startups.
And “they get the science,” Lane said. All of which is a big advantags in getting technologiesto market. He said the other advantage the region has is the commitmenftof top-level state lawmakers. But some say the recession has reducedf some of the andthe public’s, sense of urgency over bringinv alternative fuels to market. Michael Raab of , anothere cellulosic biomass makerin Cambridge, said the urgency in the public domain has waned a bit since the recessionj set in. “Our commercial prospects lookexd a lot better when oilwas $100 a he said.
Raab also said that even with the best researcjand development, and strong support from there are still some technical difficulties in simplgy going from making a small amount of fuel to scalintg it up to the mass productioh needed to really change the way Americans use energy. But the long-terjm picture for the state’s alternativer energy industrylooks strong. Biofueld executives and advocates are encouraged by thestimuluws package, which includes an $800 million grang for biomass. Another $400 million has been set aside for the creation of a new agency to be callecthe -Energy, an appropriation that could also benefit the biomass industry.