Two leading California-based cellulosic ethanol and biobased chemical firms, BlueFire Renewables Inc. and Fulcrum BioEnergy Inc., have secured additional funding that will be put towards furthering their respective project development and commercialization efforts.

BlueFire Renewables received $150,000 and secured an additional $9.85 million in committed funding from Lincoln Park Capital Fund LLC, a Chicago-based institutional investment firm. The funds are expected to enable the company to shore up its short-term cash needs and aid in the closing of additional financing for its 19 MMgy cellulosic ethanol project currently under development in Fulton, Miss.

“We are pleased to have received this initial investment from Lincoln Park Capital,” said Arnold Klann, president and CEO of BlueFire. “In addition, this agreement provides added flexibility to opportunistically raise additional capital from this committed institutional investor, which should complement our other capital raising efforts. Lincoln Park Capital has shown confidence in our ability to continue to progress and expand our capabilities and we look forward to working with their well-respected team.”

Meanwhile, Fulcrum BioEnergy closed on a $75 million Series C round of financing. A portion of the financing will be used to fund the equity capital of its Sierra Biofuels project, currently under development near Reno, Nev. Using post-sorted municipal solid waste as feedstock, the future facility is expected to produce 10.5 MMgy of cellulosic ethanol, 16 megawatts of renewable electricity and other high-value chemical products. Fulcrum has been working with Fluor Corp. on the engineering serves for the project and expects to break ground for construction this summer, with an anticipated completion date sometime in 2012.

“We are excited to be starting construction on this milestone project, which will demonstrate the tremendous future potential of our business,” said president and CEO E. James Macias. “Converting waste into renewable fuels and energy is about to become a reality. I’m very proud of our Fulcrum team that has consistently delivered on commercial, technical and financial milestones.”