Web exclusive posted Sept. 23, 2008 at 12:07 p.m. CST
The Library House, an England-based information gathering firm, has compiled a list of the top 100 up-and-coming European cleantech companies. Criteria for selection to the list included privately-held and relatively new companies to the industrial that have potential for growth and positive environmental impact. The Library House chose to focus only on those companies that have very recently become commercially ready or are ramping up their efforts in order to become commercialized very soon.
Many biofuels companies were selected for the list. Most of those companies are focusing on biomass-based projects, including various methods of cellulosic ethanol production and the construction and sale of combined heat and power (CHP) generators.
Denmark-based
BioGasol is ramping up its technology to be used in the production of ethanol from straw and other low-cost biomass feedstocks. In 2009, its demonstration-scale facility is scheduled to open in Denmark. The company has also collaborated with California-based Pacific Ethanol Inc. and received a U.S. DOE grant to construct a production facility in the United States.
Netherlands-based
KiOR Inc. is a joint venture between California-based Khosla Ventures and Netherlands-based BIOeCON, a network of scientists, and was created to commercialize a form of biomass-to-biocrude conversion technology called Biomass Catalytic Cracking. Brazilian oil production giant Petrobras S.A. signed an agreement to work with the company in order to further advance its technology.
Other fuel-production companies on the list included
Green Biologics and
TMO Renewables.
A variety of CHP producers also made the list. United Kingdom-based
Inetec eliminates some of the pressure put on landfills by processing food waste created by large food manufacturers into usable biomass fuel through a process called "abrasive drying." The company's chemical-free process allows for water extracted through the drying process to be dumped directly into a sewer while the remaining biomass can be put to other uses.
Stirling Denmark produces wood-chip fired CHP engines which are driven by heat generated by external combustion. The company is focusing on municipalities, housing communities and real estate administrators as its potential customers.
Other renewable energy companies on the list include
Cogenco,
Freepower,
SweTree Technologies , and
Orchid Environmental.
The top 100 list can be viewed in its entirety at
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/table/2008/sep/18/cleantech100fulllist.cleantechnology100.