What do these companies, Poet, Mascoma, Sapphire Energy and Elevance Renewable Sciences, among many others, all have in common? Over three days, each company was given nearly an hour to describe their production processes and their results to a designated list of experts who were listening for one reason: project review. The meetings, held in Washington and hosted by the U.S. DOE, were meant to focus on “deployment projects” that are currently a part of the DOE’s project portfolio. “This process allows the Department of Energy an opportunity to obtain meaningful feedback regarding taxpayer-funded program activities in a manner that is understandable to our stakeholder public,” a member of the DOE tells Biorefining Magazine. “The information will be useful as the Biomass Program considers future funding and portfolio decisions.”

So how did the presenters do? While the full report and findings from the meetings have yet to be determined, the mood during the meetings was “excellent,” according to the DOE. Using a one through five rating system (five being the best), the reviewers grade each presentation using five criteria to rate each project: relevance, approach, technical progress, success factors and future research. In 2009, Abengoa received an average score of 4.5 for the company’s presentation, while Poet’s Project Liberty averaged a 3.6. While it might be hard to gauge the true value of a given “score” on the future success of a project, it’s safe to say that any hype or positive talk coming from the leading biorefinery-based companies isn’t subject to review. 

—Luke Geiver