The 30 Hottest Companies in Renewable Chemicals and Materials

July 27, 2011 |

In Florida, Renewable chemicals developer Genomatica took the #1 spot in the 2011-12 “30 Hottest Companies in Renewable Chemicals and Materials” rankings. This is the first annual poll focused on renewable chemicals.

Solazyme (#2), Amyris (#3), Gevo (#4), LS9 (#5), Dupont (#6), Codexis (#7), Genencor (#8), Novozymes (#9) and ZeaChem (#10) round out the top 10. Ranked #11 through #20 are Cargill, Cobalt Technologies, Waste Management, Ceres, Elevance Renewable Sciences, Dow Chemical, Enerkem, Coskata, OPX Biotechnologies, and DSM.

The rankings, which recognize innovation and achievement in renewable chemicals and materials development, are based 33 percent on votes from a 58-member panel of invited international selectors, 33 percent on votes from members of the Digest online Community, and 33 percent from Digest subscribers.

Amyris ranked #1 in the international Selector poll, Genomatica ranked #1 in the Digest online Community poll, and Solazyme ranked #1 in the subscriber poll. Overall, more than 120 companies received votes in the polling.

Seven companies that have completed or filed IPOs in the past 18 months appeared in the rankings, dominating the voting overall: Solazyme (#2), Amyris (#3), Gevo (#4), Codexis (#7), Ceres (#14), Myriant (#21) and KiOR (#24). The high rankings achieved by Genomatica and LS9 are sure to renew speculation about the timing of IPOs for those companies.

Among the Hot 30, 7 companies are specializing in renewable chemicals and materials, 9 companies represented industry suppliers and strategic investors, and 14 represent integrated biorefineries making chemicals, materials and fuels. 25 were primarily US-based companies and 5 were from other countries. 23 companies also are ranked in the 50 Hottest Companies in Bioenergy for 2010-11.

Among the pure-plays in renewable chemicals and materials are Genomatica (#1), Elevance Renewable Sciences (#15), OPX Biotechnologies (#19), Myriant (#21), and Metabolix (#29).

New to Digest rankings with this poll are: Genomatica, Elevance, Dupont, OPX Biotechnologies, Myriant, Braskem, Metabolix, Dow Chemical, and DSM.

Among companies that ranked in the top 30 for at least one, but not the combined poll, were: HCL Cleantech, Qteros, Joule Unlimited, BlueFire Renewables, Verenium, Chemtex, Petrobras, and Chevron.

“The readers, community members and invited selectors have spoken,” said Digest editor Jim Lane, which inaugurated the 50 Hottest Companies in Bioenergy rankings in 2008. “The voting always creates a lively conversation about deserving companies that missed out. As we have seen in the Hot 50 polls, the heavy voting for well-known brands suggests that, in the final analysis, companies have to achieve visibility as well as credibility to win voter support.”

The 30 Hottest Companies in Renewable Chemicals and Biomaterials for 2011-12 are:

1.     Genomatica
2.     Solazyme
3.     Amyris
4.     Gevo
5.     LS9
6.     Dupont
7.     Codexis
8.     Genencor
9.     Novozymes
10.   ZeaChem

11.     Cargill
12.    Cobalt Technologies
13.     Waste Management
14.     Ceres
15.     Elevance Renewable Sciences
16.     Dow Chemical
17.     Enerkem
18.     Coskata
19.     OPX Biotechnologies

20.     DSM
21.     Myriant
22.     Cosan
23.     Mascoma
24.     KiOR
25.     DuPont Danisco
26.     Virent
27.     LanzaTech
28.     POET
29.     Metabolix
30.     Honeywell’s UOP

Category: Fuels

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