Gevo restarts isobutanol production at Luverne: what’s happening now, what happened?

Redfield, Biofuel Energy and other projects

What about expansion of the Gevo system to Redfield and other plants, such as Biofuel Energy?

“Too early to say on timeline,” Gruber told the Digest. “The interest is out there. But for now we are going to be fully focused on getting the production optimized at Luverne.”

What about cellulosic sugars? For sure, Gevo has noted that companies like Sweetwater are landing deals with ethanol plants to bring cellulosic sugars into their production streams. “We can work with cellulosic sugars, for sure” said Gruber, “but our cellulosic is not ready for prime time.”

The Gevo-Butamax dispute

Next stop in the never ending battle between Gevo and Butamax over their respective patents is an August trial date over the ‘375 Gevo patent, relating back to the use of a specific gene that has been knocked out to ensure high production rates for isobutanol. This is a Gevo suit against Butamax — there remains pending litigation on appeal relating to Butamax suits against Gevo for infringement on Butamax patents.

And the efforts to invalidate each others patents go on, as well. And on. And on.

The Bottom Line

It’s good news across the industry that Gevo is back to isobutanol production — and there are no voices amongst the Digesterati indicating that a slow-and-steady approach to having all the fermenters online before year end is a bad idea.

Items to watch? The August trial on Gevo’s patents. Corn prices, generally. A steady progress between now and end-of-year to having all the fermenters online. For the longer term, announcements on the Redfield second commercial facility, and progress with cellulosic sugars.