Gevo

Last updated
Gevo, Inc.
Company type Public
Nasdaq:  GEVO
IndustryRenewable fuel, Biofuel
Founded2005;19 years ago (2005)
FounderDr. Peter Meinhold
Dr. Frances Arnold
Headquarters Douglas County, Colorado, U.S.
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Dr. Patrick Gruber (CEO)
Products Isobutanol (Biobutanol) and Hydrocarbon derivatives
RevenueDecrease2.svg US$0.711 Million (Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2021) [1]
Decrease2.svg ( US$60.090 Million) (Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2021) [1]
Decrease2.svg ( US$59.203 Million) (Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2021) [1]
Total assets Increase2.svg US$666.476 Million (Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2021) [1]
Total equity Increase2.svg US$547.255 Million (Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2021) [1]
Number of employees
99 (Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2021) [1]
Website https://gevo.com/

Gevo, Inc. is an American renewable chemicals and advanced biofuels company headquartered in unincorporated Douglas County, Colorado, in the Denver-Aurora metropolitan area. Gevo operates in the sustainability sector, pursuing a business model based on the concept of the "circular economy". The company develops bio-based alternatives to petroleum-based products using a combination of biotechnology and classical chemistry. Gevo uses the GREET model from Argonne National Laboratory as a basis for its measure of sustainability, [2] with the goal of producing high-protein animal feed, corn-oil products, and energy-dense liquid hydrocarbons. Gevo is focused on converting sustainably grown raw materials, specifically No. 2 dent corn, into high-value protein and isobutanol, a primary building block for renewable hydrocarbons, including sustainable aviation fuel, renewable gasoline, and renewable diesel. Gevo markets these fuels as directly integrable on a “drop-in” basis into existing fuel and chemical products. [3] Gevo's investors include Burrill & Company, Khosla Ventures, Lanxess, Osage University Partners, Total, and Virgin Green Fund, among others.

Contents

The Circular Economy

Gevo's business model aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by incorporating renewable energies and sustainable processes. Gevo's business model incorporates the concept of the circular economy, as outlined in publicly available documents such as Gevo’s circular economy.

Economics of Isobutanol Production

Isobutanol is a four-carbon (C
4
) alcohol that can be directly used as a specialty chemical or a value-added fuel blendstock. [4] It can also be converted into butenes. Butenes are primary hydrocarbon feedstocks that are used in the production of plastics, fibers, rubber, other polymers, and hydrocarbon fuels.

Isobutanol produced from renewable raw materials may be a competitive alternative source of C
4
hydrocarbons for the petrochemical and refining industries. Isobutanol and its derivatives have potential applications in the global petrochemicals market. Manufacturers may replace petroleum-derived raw materials with isobutanol-derived raw materials. Additionally, the final products produced from isobutanol-based raw materials are chemically equivalent to those produced from petroleum-based raw materials and may help reduce the time to market adoption. [5]

Creating Food and Fuel While Sequestering Carbon in the Soil

Gevo uses no. 2 dent corn to create high-protein animal feed and isobutanol. The leftover starch from the corn is used to make isobutanol, which can be converted into energy-dense liquid hydrocarbons like sustainable aviation fuel, renewable gasoline, and renewable diesel.

Target markets

Gevo's commercialization efforts are focused on the following markets:

Controversies

In February 2022, a methane digester owned by Gevo located at Winding Meadows Dairy near Rock Valley, Iowa, spilled manure. This spill flowed across frozen fields into Lizard Creek, a tributary of the Rock River. [9] As a result, 376,414 gallons of liquid manure entered the waterways. It was later discovered that Gevo did not have a license to operate the digester. [10] Although the Iowa Department of Natural Resources fined the dairy farmer $10,000 for the spill, Gevo was not fined. [11]

Related Research Articles

Butanol (also called butyl alcohol) is a four-carbon alcohol with a formula of C4H9OH, which occurs in five isomeric structures (four structural isomers), from a straight-chain primary alcohol to a branched-chain tertiary alcohol; all are a butyl or isobutyl group linked to a hydroxyl group (sometimes represented as BuOH, 1-BuOH, i-BuOH, and t-BuOH). These are 1-butanol, two stereoisomers of sec-butyl alcohol, isobutanol and tert-butyl alcohol. Butanol is primarily used as a solvent and as an intermediate in chemical synthesis, and may be used as a fuel. Biologically produced butanol is called biobutanol, which may be n-butanol or isobutanol.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Biofuel</span> Type of biological fuel

Biofuel is a fuel that is produced over a short time span from biomass, rather than by the very slow natural processes involved in the formation of fossil fuels such as oil. Biofuel can be produced from plants or from agricultural, domestic or industrial biowaste. Biofuels are mostly used for transportation, but can also be used for heating and electricity. Biofuels are regarded as a renewable energy source. The use of biofuel has been subject to criticism regarding the "food vs fuel" debate, varied assessments of their sustainability, and possible deforestation and biodiversity loss as a result of biofuel production.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ethanol fuel</span> Type of biofuel

Ethanol fuel is fuel containing ethyl alcohol, the same type of alcohol as found in alcoholic beverages. It is most often used as a motor fuel, mainly as a biofuel additive for gasoline.

Cellulosic ethanol is ethanol produced from cellulose rather than from the plant's seeds or fruit. It can be produced from grasses, wood, algae, or other plants. It is generally discussed for use as a biofuel. The carbon dioxide that plants absorb as they grow offsets some of the carbon dioxide emitted when ethanol made from them is burned, so cellulosic ethanol fuel has the potential to have a lower carbon footprint than fossil fuels.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Corn stover</span> Corn (maize) plant parts left in field after harvest

Corn stover consists of the leaves, stalks, and cobs of corn (maize) plants left in a field after harvest. Such stover makes up about half of the yield of a corn crop and is similar to straw from other cereal grasses; in Britain it is sometimes called corn straw. Corn stover is a very common agricultural product in areas of large amounts of corn production. As well as the non-grain part of harvested corn, the stover can also contain other weeds and grasses. Field corn and sweet corn, two different types of maize, have relatively similar corn stover.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alcohol fuel</span> Alcohols used as fuel for internal combustion engines

Various alcohols are used as fuel for internal combustion engines. The first four aliphatic alcohols are of interest as fuels because they can be synthesized chemically or biologically, and they have characteristics which allow them to be used in internal combustion engines. The general chemical formula for alcohol fuel is CnH2n+1OH.

In order to create ethanol, all biomass needs to go through some of these steps: it needs to be grown, collected, dried, fermented, and burned. All of these steps require resources and an infrastructure. The ratio of the energy released by burning the resulting ethanol fuel to the energy used in the process, is known as the ethanol fuel energy balance and studied as part of the wider field of energy economics. Figures compiled in a 2007 National Geographic Magazine article point to modest results for corn (maize) ethanol produced in the US: 1 unit of energy input equals 1.3 energy units of corn ethanol energy. The energy balance for sugarcane ethanol produced in Brazil is much more favorable, 1 to 8. Over the years, however, many reports have been produced with contradicting energy balance estimates. A 2006 University of California Berkeley study, after analyzing six separate studies, concluded that producing ethanol from corn uses marginally less petroleum than producing gasoline.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bioconversion of biomass to mixed alcohol fuels</span>

The bioconversion of biomass to mixed alcohol fuels can be accomplished using the MixAlco process. Through bioconversion of biomass to a mixed alcohol fuel, more energy from the biomass will end up as liquid fuels than in converting biomass to ethanol by yeast fermentation.

The United States produces mainly biodiesel and ethanol fuel, which uses corn as the main feedstock. The US is the world's largest producer of ethanol, having produced nearly 16 billion gallons in 2017 alone. The United States, together with Brazil accounted for 85 percent of all ethanol production, with total world production of 27.05 billion gallons. Biodiesel is commercially available in most oilseed-producing states. As of 2005, it was somewhat more expensive than fossil diesel, though it is still commonly produced in relatively small quantities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Butanol fuel</span> Fuel for internal combustion engines

Butanol may be used as a fuel in an internal combustion engine. It is more similar to gasoline than it is to ethanol. A C4-hydrocarbon, butanol is a drop-in fuel and thus works in vehicles designed for use with gasoline without modification. Both n-butanol and isobutanol have been studied as possible fuels. Both can be produced from biomass (as "biobutanol" ) as well as from fossil fuels (as "petrobutanol"). The chemical properties depend on the isomer (n-butanol or isobutanol), not on the production method.

Renewable Fuels are fuels produced from renewable resources. Examples include: biofuels, Hydrogen fuel, and fully synthetic fuel produced from ambient carbon dioxide and water. This is in contrast to non-renewable fuels such as natural gas, LPG (propane), petroleum and other fossil fuels and nuclear energy. Renewable fuels can include fuels that are synthesized from renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar. Renewable fuels have gained in popularity due to their sustainability, low contributions to the carbon cycle, and in some cases lower amounts of greenhouse gases. The geo-political ramifications of these fuels are also of interest, particularly to industrialized economies which desire independence from Middle Eastern oil.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Acetone–butanol–ethanol fermentation</span> Chemical process

Acetone–butanol–ethanol (ABE) fermentation, also known as the Weizmann process, is a process that uses bacterial fermentation to produce acetone, n-butanol, and ethanol from carbohydrates such as starch and glucose. It was developed by chemist Chaim Weizmann and was the primary process used to produce acetone, which was needed to make cordite, a substance essential for the British war industry during World War I.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Algae fuel</span> Use of algae as a source of energy-rich oils

Algae fuel, algal biofuel, or algal oil is an alternative to liquid fossil fuels that uses algae as its source of energy-rich oils. Also, algae fuels are an alternative to commonly known biofuel sources, such as corn and sugarcane. When made from seaweed (macroalgae) it can be known as seaweed fuel or seaweed oil.

Biogasoline is a type of gasoline produced from biomass such as algae. Like traditionally produced gasoline, it is made up of hydrocarbons with 6 (hexane) to 12 (dodecane) carbon atoms per molecule and can be used in internal combustion engines. However, unlike traditional gasoline/petroleum based fuels, which are mainly composed from oil, biogasolines are made from plants such as beets and sugarcane or cellulosic biomass- substances normally referred to as plant waste.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sustainable biofuel</span> Non-fossil-based sustainable production

Sustainable biofuel is biofuel produced in a sustainable manner. It is not based on petroleum or other fossil fuels. It includes not using plants that are used for food stuff to produce the fuel thus disrupting the world's food supply.

The Renewable Fuel Standard(RFS) is an American federal program that requires transportation fuel sold in the United States to contain a minimum volume of renewable fuels. It originated with the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and was expanded and extended by the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. Research published by the Government Accountability Office in November 2016 found the program unlikely to meet its goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions due to limited current and expected future production of advanced biofuels.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aviation biofuel</span> Sustainable fuel used to power aircraft

An aviation biofuel is a biofuel used to power aircraft and is a sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). The International Air Transport Association (IATA) considers it a key element in reducing the environmental impact of aviation. Aviation biofuel is used to decarbonize medium and long-haul air travel. These types of travel generate the most emissions, and could extend the life of older aircraft types by lowering their carbon footprint. Synthetic paraffinic kerosene (SPK) refers to any non-petroleum-based fuel designed to replace kerosene jet fuel, which is often, but not always, made from biomass.

Issues relating to biofuel are social, economic, environmental and technical problems that may arise from biofuel production and use. Social and economic issues include the "food vs fuel" debate and the need to develop responsible policies and economic instruments to ensure sustainable biofuel production. Farming for biofuels feedstock can be detrimental to the environment if not done sustainably. Environmental concerns include deforestation, biodiversity loss and soil erosion as a result of land clearing for biofuels agriculture. While biofuels can contribute to reduction in global carbon emissions, indirect land use change for biofuel production can have the inverse effect. Technical issues include possible modifications necessary to run the engine on biofuel, as well as energy balance and efficiency.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indirect land use change impacts of biofuels</span> Negative spillover effect of production of biofuels

The indirect land use change impacts of biofuels, also known as ILUC or iLUC, relates to the unintended consequence of releasing more carbon emissions due to land-use changes around the world induced by the expansion of croplands for ethanol or biodiesel production in response to the increased global demand for biofuels.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Gevo, Inc. Full Year 2021 Form 10-K Report". investors.gevo.com. 31 December 2021. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
  2. o Napolitano (September 16, 2021). "Argonne teams up with GEVO to apply lab's GREET Model to company's net-zero project | Argonne National Laboratory". www.anl.gov. Retrieved 2023-02-17.
  3. "The Post-Alcohol World". The Economist . October 28, 2010. Retrieved 2010-12-05.
  4. Leber, Jessica (January 13, 2010). "Biobutanol Firm Aims to Compete with Ethanol in 4 Years". The New York Times . Retrieved 2010-12-05.
  5. Canter, Neil (July 1, 2008). "A Second-Generation Biofuel". AllBusiness . Retrieved 2010-12-05.
  6. "From 1st- to 2nd-Generation Biofuel Technologies" (PDF). International Energy Agency . November 2008. Retrieved 2010-12-05.
  7. "Gevo's isobutanol receives EPA registration". Ethanol Producer Magazine. November 23, 2010. Retrieved 2010-12-08.
  8. "Gevo Inc. - News".
  9. Welte, Dean (2022-02-08). "Authorities investigating manure spill in Lyon County, IA". KTIV. Retrieved 2023-02-17.
  10. Kavahn Mansouri (2022-03-03). "Iowa manure recycler operated without state's permission when it leaked waste into creeks" . Retrieved 2023-02-17.
  11. Kavahn Mansouri (2022-07-06). "Workers in Iowa failed to investigate leak that poured manure wastewater into creeks" . Retrieved 2023-02-17.

Further reading