A new biofuels startup based in San Francisco aims to broker long-term, fixed-price deals for collecting feedstocks.
Sirona Fuels said it is focusing on feedstock deals to avoid fluctuations in the market that have crippled other biofuels companies over the last year. To that end the company is working to establsh relationships with farmers in India and Haiti who grow jatropha–an oil-rich plant that can be used to make biofuels.
Currently, the company is aggressively expanding its cooking oil collection business in the U.S., for refining into biodiesel. However, the company said its long-term plans are focused on jatropha as a primary feedstock. Sirona reportedly plans to plant 2,000 acres of jatropha in Haiti.
“The feedstock risk has been the biggest risk in biodiesel,” Sirona CEO Paul Lacrouciere said. “Companies have lived or died based on managing that risk. We are doing that with our relationships in communities, working with local businesses and schools to entrench ourselves there.”
Sirona purchased a biodiesel refinery in Oakland, California from Blue Sky Biofuels and is looking to raise between $5 million and $10 million in venture funding to acquire more existing refineries. It’s current refining capacity is 15 million gallons per year at the former Blue Sky facility.
Sirona has been financed with $2 million in private investments.
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