50 Hottest Companies in Bioenergy TRENDS: International Companies

This year in the 50 Hottest Companies in Bioenergy, we saw fewer international companies making the rankings, but those that did, were reaching higher positions. This year, there were 13 international companies in the overall Hot 50, down from 15 last year, but overall six reached the top 20. That’s up from just four in the top 20 a year ago.

Who’s up, who’s down?

Last year, BP Biofuels led all international companies with a #4 ranking – but unsurprisingly dropped to #17 this year amidst a very challenging year for the oil giant in areas that, to be fair, had nothing to do with biofuels. But it was a collection of giants last year, with Novozymes at #11, Abengoa Bioenergy at #15 and Petrobras at #18. All of those companies have returned, and Genencor (a division of Danisco) joins them at #18 and Enerkem zoomed into the top 20, reaching #16. Meanwhile, Novozymes reached #7.

So, overall, it as a good year for the enzyme companies and for cellulosic ethanol, with all of the international companies appearing in the top 20 featuring in one of those categories.

But there were big gainers outside the top 20, as well. Most notably, Cosan joining the list at #40, LanzaTech zooming from #41 to #31 and Neste Oil rocketing from #40 to #29. That’s a first generation ethanol company, an advanced bioenergy technology company, and a producer of renewable diesel. That’s a fair bit of diversity, although companies such as #43 Ineos Bio, #50 Inbicon and #32 Iogen confirmed that, this year, cellulosic ethanol was generally the biggest story among the international companies.