A large ethanol producer and subsidiary of Koch Industries, Flint Hills Resources Renewables, also joined EdeniQ’s round as a new investor. Comerica and ATEL Ventures provided the debt. Flint is interested in EdeniQ because the startup has technology that can help a corn ethanol producer transition to cellulosic biofuels, which are made from energy crops or waste and are widely considered the future of biofuels.

EdeniQ originally raised $30 million when it launched back in 2008, and later raised $12.4 million, so the company’s total investment is close to $75 million. AltraBiofuels was also backed by substantial money — some hundreds of millions of dollars.

Cellulosic ethanol is facing a really tough road in the U.S. Amyris, which was one of the leaders a few short years ago after it went public, has hit a wall and recently reorganized its management team. MIT Tech Review reported that Amyris was very far away from being able to produce biodiesel profitably, leading to the company getting out of the biofuel business for the time being. Amyris’ stock is trading at $1.96 per share, far below its $16 per share price debut.

Another charticle from the MIT Tech Review this week shows just how far away the U.S. is from meeting its (ridiculous) renewable fuel mandates, particularly because very little cellulosic ethanol is being produced. Biofuel exec, and blogger, Robert Rapier tweeted to me that he predicts that the actual amount of cellulosic ethanol production in 2012 will be less than 5 million gallons (and probably less than 2 million gallons). The EPA is predicting the industry will make 10 million gallons 2012, down from the amazingly-off prediction goal that the industry would make 500 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol in 2012.

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The public companies

Amyris.  Amyris is a company that uses genetic engineering to turn biomass into chemicals and fuels, and its first product turns sugarcane syrup into Biofene, a form of the industrial chemical farnesene, which is a fragrant hydrocarbon that’s used to make cosmetics, lubricants and other materials. Amyris held its third quarter earnings on Nov. 1, and announced for the three months ended Sept. 30, 2011 that the company generated $36.28 million in revenue, up from $24.23 million in revenue from the same quarter in 2010. Amyris also announced a net loss of $43.92 million for the third quarter 2011, which was a larger net loss than in the same quarter in 2010, when Amyris lost $20.61 million for the quarter.

As of Monday morning, Amyris is trading under $12 (last time I looked at $11.76), which is a 52-week low according to The Street, and the company’s shares are down 53 percent year-to-date. Amyris priced its IPO in September 2010 at $16 per share, below its anticipated range of $18 to $20 per share.

Gevo.  Gevo’s business model is based on converting corn ethanol plants to enable them to turn cellulosic feedstocks like agriculture waste into a bio-based isobutanol, a fuel additive and a precursor to manufacturing plastics and other products. Gevo filed its third quarter earnings report Nov. 1, and reported a quarter revenue of $17.51 million, up from third-quarter revenues in 2010 of $1.50 million. Gevo lost $12.31 million for the 2011 quarter, a smaller loss than the $17.31 million it lost in the third quarter 2010.

As of Monday morning, Gevo is trading at $7.51, down over a three-month period. Gevo went public in February of this year, on a per-share price of $15 — priced at the high end of its range — and raised $95.7 million after offering expenses.

KiOR.  KiOR’s technology allows it to convert wood chips into a substitute for crude oil. KiOR posted its second earnings statement as a public company last week on Nov. 10. The company reported a net loss of $14.8 million, compared to $10.6 million for the third quarter of 2010 and did not recognize revenue during the third quarter of 2011. The company doesn’t expect to generate revenue until at least mid-2012.

KiOR spent $53.4 million on building its facility in Columbus, and KiOR told shareholders in its latest report that it will start finish building its Columbus, Miss. facility in second half in 2012 and its next facility in Newton, Miss. potentially at the end of 2012. KiOR is currently looking into raising funding for its Newton facility,  and said it will see a bit higher capital costs for its Columbus plant than previously expected.

KiOR is one of the only biofuel/biochemical companies which hasn’t seen a substantial share drop. As of Monday morning, KiOR’s shares were trading at $15.40. KiOR went public this summer and priced its IPO at $15 per share, under its estimated pricing of $19 to $21 per share.

Solazyme.  Solazyme engineers efficient algal strains and grows its designer algae in fermentation tanks without sunlight by feeding it sugar. Then, using existing industrial equipment, it extracts the oil. The company reported its third quarter earnings last week on Nov. 7, and reported revenues of $8.94 million, up from revenues of $4.63 million. Solazyme reported a net loss of $14.09 million for the quarter, a bigger net loss than the $8.92 million it reported in 2010.

Solazyme’s shares have been down over the three-month period, and as of Monday morning, its shares were trading at $11.16.

Biochemical and biofuel startups that have filed for IPOs:

• Genomatica
• Fulcrum BioEnergy
• Mascoma
• BioAmber
• Renewable Energy Group

Image courtesy of eXtension Ag Energy.

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Renmatix says it uses water at high temperatures and pressure as a solvent to break down the biomass into usable sugars rapidly. The process is called “supercritical hydrolysis” and Renmatix says that while that process has been used in other industries like pharmaceuticals and coffee production, they are the first to implement the process for biofuels and biochemicals. The process is very rapid — think seconds and minutes — compared to other processes that can take days.

Public company Codexis is also targeting the low cost sugar market, and sells its enzymes to make sugars to biofuel producers, in addition to other products. Codexis has major backing from oil giant Shell and Brazil sugar giant Cosan. I interviewed Codexis CEO Alan Shaw earlier this year, and he was saying the same things that the executives on the panel said on Tuesday afternoon: cheap sugar is the new oil.

Renmatix is far from the scale of Codexis yet. The company only lists Kleiner Perkins as an investor and will no doubt need major funds to build it’s facility in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. But the company has scaled up a pilot plant in Georgia that is says is turning three dry tons of woody biomass into sugars per day.

Kleiner Perkins also invested in cellulosic ethanol company Amyris which went public in April 2010, and was one of Kleiner’s bigger exits in cleantech. Renmatix no doubt will work closely with Amyris, and Amyris CEO John Melo joined Renmatix’s board.

The event on Tuesday featured Kleiner Partner John Doerr,  Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett, the CEO of Renmatix Mike Hamilton, and execs from Dupont and the Department of Energy.

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A few of the stocks I covered yesterday are still down — like EnerNOC, but that’s due to company-specific issues. Most are slightly up, though many didn’t return to the trading levels pre-market sell-off. Here’s a run down on where the stocks I covered yesterday are at this morning:

Solar

• Solar panel maker SunPower up 3.06 percent.
• Chinese solar panel maker Suntech rises 4.13 percent.
• Thin-film solar maker First Solar is still down .40 percent.

Biofuels

• Biofuel maker Gevo is back up 10.87 percent.
• Algae oil company Solazyme is up 3.07 percent.
• Biofuel maker KiOR is down even more: 3.50 percent.
• Biofuel maker Amyris is up 0.75 percent.

Electric car and batteries

• Lithium ion battery maker A123 Systems is up 11.70 percent.
• Electric car maker Tesla Motors is up 5.67 percent.
• Battery maker Ener1 is up 6.75 percent.

Smart grid

• Smart meter and network maker Itron is up 5.14 percent.
• Demand response company Comverge is down even more, by 1.38 percent.
• Demand response leader EnerNOC crashed even more, by 36.98 percent . (Yesterday’s market crash is combined with EnerNOC’s own weak earnings statement and a downgraded position to hold by a prominent analyst).
• Smart meter and network maker Echelon is back up by 5.51 percent.

Random:

• Car sharing company Zipcar is up 2.75 percent. It hasn’t fully recovered from yesterday.
• Clean Energy Fuels, which makes natural gas infrastructure for gas-powered cars, is still down by 5.80 percent.

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Solar:

• Thin film solar maker First Solar is down 5.87 percent.
• Solar panel maker SunPower fell 8.26 percent.
• Chinese solar panel maker Suntech has fallen 7.55 percent.

Biofuels:

• Biofuel maker Gevo is down 11 percent. Ouch.
• Algae oil company Solazyme crashed 8.80 percent.
• Biofuel maker KiOR is down 5.57 percent.
• Biofuel maker Amyris dropped 5.40 percent.

Electric car and batteries:

• Lithium ion battery maker A123 Systems crashed a whopping 14.73 percent.
• Electric car maker Tesla Motors is down just a touch at 1.82 percent.
• Battery maker Ener1 is down 7.33 percent to 0.73.

Smart grid:

• Smart meter and network maker Itron fell by 9.05 percent.
• Demand response company Comverge crashed down 15.09 percent.
• Demand response leader EnerNOC dropped by just 4.75 percent.
• Smart meter and network maker Echelon fell by just 2.76 percent.

Random:

• Car sharing company Zipcar is down 15 percent. Another ouch.
• Clean Energy Fuels, which makes natural gas infrastructure for gas-powered cars, dropped 10.91 percent.

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Not a great performance, but not all that bad either. The company made $150 million in the IPO, and could sell another 1.5 million shares. And flat is always better than down (though it’s only the first day).

KiOR’s price could stay in that range for a while, if two other biofuel IPOs are any indicator. Amyris (a AMRS) and Gevo have managed to keep their share prices mostly from dropping. Amyris’ shares are trading at double its debut price, and Gevo is trading around the same as its debut price at $15 per share. KiOR’s shares are bouncing slightly down in after-hours trading, but we’ll see next week where the stock heads.

Four-year-old KiOR has ambitions to cheaply turn wood chips into a substitute for crude oil, which can then be used by the world’s oil refining industry. KiOR plans to use the funds from its IPO to build up to five plants, which in total will cost $1 billion. The first one is supposed to be built in Columbus, Miss., will cost $190 million, and is already funded, says KiOR.

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But more interesting is that Amyris seems to be putting a bigger emphasis on bringing its non-biofuel products to market first, before it tackles the commercial biofuel market. Amyris has long said that it will commercialize its product in 2011, but Amyris CEO John Melo said on the call that Amyris would commercialize a cosmetic product and an industrial lubricant product in 2011, and will open a biofuel plant, Grupo São Martinho, in the second quarter of 2012. Melo also emphasized a new partnership with flavor and fragrance company Firmenich, and pointed out Amyris’ 6 product categories, from consumer goods to cosmetics to lubricants, only one of which is biofuels.

Currently Amyris makes a good chunk of its revenues by selling other company’s ethanol. And in 2011 Amyris will be adding revenues from cosmetics and lubricants, but won’t be adding revenues from large volumes of biofuels for quite some time.

The bulk of Amyris’ next-gen biofuel competitors have taken the same track. Aurora Biofuels changed its name to Aurora Algae recently to reflect a shift to non-fuel markets, and algae maker Solazyme has long said cosmetics and foods were its first markets before tackling algae fuel. Solazyme has an investment from Unilever and Amyris has a deal with Procter and Gamble.

The biofuel markets aren’t moving as fast as many have expected, and to produce large volumes of biofuels, companies need to drop their prices dramatically to compete with fossil fuels. That’s the tricky part for these next-gen biofuel companies: produce biofuel at a large volume at the barebones price that fossil fuels have done for decades.

Amyris’ stock is holding steady. Amyris’ 5.3 million shares were priced at $16 in late September, below the expected range, and started trading at $16.50 on September 28. By mid-morning of its first day of trading, Amyris’ shares had jumped to as high as $17.42, but by later in the afternoon they were back down around $16.50. This morning Amyris’ shares are trading at $17.25.

Melo says Amyris has $271 million in cash to keep building its business thanks to its IPO and other fund raising. The company raised hundreds of millions from venture capitalists Kleiner Perkins, Khosla Ventures, and French oil giant Total.

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Amyris’ 5.3 million shares were priced at $16 on Monday, below the expected range, and started trading at $16.50 this morning. By mid-morning, Amyris’ shares had jumped to as high as $17.42, but by later in the afternoon they were back down around $16.50. It’s a respectable first day or trading.

In comparison to some of the other greentech IPOs recently, Amyris’ is doing well. Thin-film solar firm Trony Solar dropped its IPO plans in August, Solyndra withdrew its much-anticipated IPO earlier this year; rare earth element developer Molycorp  priced its IPOs below expectations; and Shanghai’s geothermal company Nobao Renewable Energy gutted its march to the New York Stock Exchange. Tesla’s IPO, which priced above expectations and also soared on its first day or trading, has been the exception to the rule.

Despite the fact that Amyris hasn’t started selling its biofuel yet, and the bulk of its revenues come from selling other companies’ ethanol, Amyris has a wide range of impressive partnerships including with Brazilian sugar giants Usina São Martinho, Bunge Limited, Cosan and Açúcar Guarani, a subsidiary of Tereos. In addition, Amyris hooked up with French oil giant Total, which bought a 17 percent stake in the biofuel developer, as well as Soliance, Procter & Gamble Co. and a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell.

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The IPO has raised $84.8 million. Just two weeks ago Amyris had been planning to raise closer to $100 million, and as high as $122 million. The company plans to spend that money on factory equipment it hopes will bring its technology to commercial scale.

Amyris is not producing its next-gen biofuel at commercial scale yet, and doesn’t plan to do so until 2011. The company booked its first revenue from a $24.3 million federal grant, awarded on a conditional basis late last year, in May. A good chunk of Amyris’ current revenues comes from reselling ethanol produced by other companies.

According to its filings, Amyris brought in revenues of $26.36 million for the first six months of the year, and had a net loss of $36.53 million. Backed by more than $244 million from a long list of investors, including Khosla Ventures and Kleiner Perkins, Amyris says as of June 30, 2010, it had accumulated a deficit of $156.5 million.

We’ll be watching the stock closely to see how it fares today.

A variety of greentech companies have abandoned offerings or suffered weak IPOs; Tesla was the exception. Thin-film solar firm Trony Solar dropped its IPO plans in August, Solyndra withdrew its much-anticipated IPO earlier this year, rare earth element developer Molycorp  priced its IPOs below expectations, and Shanghai’s geothermal company Nobao Renewable Energy gutted its march to the New York Stock Exchange, too. Another next-gen biofuel developer, Gevo, filed an S-1 earlier this year, planning to raise up to $150 million in an IPO, but at least one analyst thinks Gevo will likely raise closer to between $80 million and $100 million.

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