French oil major Total (NYSE: TOT) will take a seat on the board of biofuel company Coskata Inc. after contributing an undisclosed amount to a recent round of funding.
Several of Coskata’s other, well-known
investors also participated in the latest round, including Blackstone Cleantech Venture Partners, Khosla
Ventures, Advanced Technology Ventures (ATV), Globespan Capital
Partners, and Arancia.
Cellulosic ethanol, which has been the promise of the biofuel industry for years, is finally moving to commercial scale production with numerous plants expected to begin construction in the next year. The major oil companies are placing bets on the technology platforms they believe will ensure them a piece of the pie if and when the low-carbon fuel begins to build a market share.
Royal Dutch Shelll (NYSE: RDSA) has invested in Iogen, Codexis and a Brazilian
joint venture with Cosan S.A. (CSAN3.BR). BP (NYSE: BP) has investments in Verenium and Qteros. And ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM) is looking further down the development path to third-generation synthetic and algae-based fuels by investing $600 million in research led by Synthetic Genomics.
US automaker GM also holds an ownership stake in Coskata, which uses proprietary microorganisms and bioreactors in a three-step conversion process to produce cellulosic ethanol. Coskata says the process requires no additional chemicals or pre-treatments to produce make more than 100 gallons of ethanol per ton of dry material.
Coskata said the most recent funding will support its bio-ethanol
commercialization activities while ensuring advancement of
new product technologies.
In February 2010, Coskata was recognized on MIT’s Innovative 50 List, and in October 2009, the company announced the start-up of its semi-commercial, flex-ethanol facility located in Madison, PA.
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