Amyris takes the lead in Hot 50 voting as early precincts report; LanzaTech, Novozymes, DuPont, DSM, REG in the hunt. 

In Florida, early voting totals were released today for 50 Hottest Companies in the Advanced Bioeconomy, representing roughly 20% of the overall vote expected.

The Digest noted some early voting trends.

1. These are “early precincts” reporting — not yet including the 50% of votes from the invited internatinoal selectors, PhotoVotes, and the final 6 weeks of balloting in the Hot 50.

2. Flight to brand leaders.  In early voting, larger companies have surged this year. Novozymes, DSM, DuPont, BASF, POET, REG, and Abengoa in the top 10, Cargill, POET, ADM, Chemtex in the next 10 — and companies like Coca-Cola, Bayer, Dow AgroSciences, Corbion, Boeing, Clariant, Syngenta, Honeywell, and Evonik making appearances in the early voting.

3. We’ve not seen a major drop-off in cellulosic ethanol despite that sector’s delays — voters are still behind technologies such as POET-DSM, Beta Renewables, GranBio, Abengoa, and INEOS Bio.

4. Butanol is having a good early season — Gevo at 15, Green Biologics at 21 and Butamax at 22

5. Scale increasingly matters. Only LanzaTech, Algenol and Verdezyne in the top 20 don’t have a commercial-scale plant running, and LanzaTech and Verdezyne are on the verge. Early stagers have generally migrated to the Hot 40.

6. All Around the world. In the top 20, companies developing or owning projects in China, Brazil, Canada, India, Spain, the US, Italy, and Malaysia are on the list. Plus, global giants such as ADM, Cargill, BASF are in the elite.

7. Shock omissions. Where’s ethanol? Aside from POET, we don’t see Aemetis, Pacific Ethanol, or Green Plains here. Where’s algae? We see Algenol and Solazyme (both down substantially from last year) — and where’s Sapphire Energy, and Cellana — just to name a few that haven’t attracted the expected levels of support in early voting in the Hot 50.

8. Chemicals are especially having success.  Amyris, Verdezyne, DSM, BioAmber, Genomatica, Solazyme and Verdezyne are all making strong bids for the top 20, and Green Biologics and NatureWorks aren’t far behind.

Early leaders

1 Amyris

2 LanzaTech

3 Novozymes

4 DuPont Industrial Biosciences

5 DSM

6 Renewable Energy Group

7 POET

8 BASF

9 Algenol

10 Abengoa Bioenergy

11 Genomatica

12 Solazyme

13 BioAmber

14 Cargill

15 Gevo

16 POET-DSM

17 Beta Renewables / Chemtex

18 ADM

19 POET Biomass

20 Verdezyne

21 Green Biologics

22 Butamax

23 Coca-Cola

24 GranBio

25 Boeing

26 Enerkem

27 American Process

28 Joule Unlimited

29 NatureWorks

30 Dow AgroSciences

31 Bayer CropSciences

32 Virent

33 Braskem

34 Elevance Renewable Sciences

35 Sweetwater Energy

36 Avantium

37 Clariant

38 Corbion

39 Renmatix

40 Neste Oil

41 Reverdia

42 Syngenta

43 Dyadic

44 Honeywell’s UOP

45 Shell

46 INEOS Bio

47 Bunge

48 Evonik

49 Raizen

50 ICM