Smart Energy News

Lynnfield, Mass. — GreenMan Technologies, a provider of technological processes and marketing programs for alternative energy and renewable fuels, has raised $8.2 million in a private placement of stock, the company disclosed.

The investment included participation from several institutional investors, including Spring Mountain Capital and Next View Capital.

Founded in 1992, GreenMan, through its alternative energy subsidiary, American Power Group, provides a natural gas conversion technology for aftermarket diesel engines and diesel generators.

The company’s technology converts existing diesel engines into more efficient and environmentally friendly engines that have the flexibility to run on diesel fuel and compressed natural gas; diesel fuel and liquefied natural gas; diesel fuel and
pipeline or well-head gas; and diesel fuel and bio-methane.

“We believe that GreenMan provides the best dual-fuel conversion technology available in the market,” said Jamie Weston, a managing director in the private equity group of Spring Mountain Capital, in an announcement. “The company’s non-invasive solution allows its customers to take advantage of the lower cost of natural gas, while
maintaining the performance benefits of diesel gas when needed.”

Image credit: American Power Group

GreenMan Technologies website

American Power group website

Visalia, Calif. — EdeniQ, a biomaterials and biofuels company, announced it has raised about $30 million in a round of venture capital and debt financing, led by a group of existing and new investors with the company.

Founded in 2007, EdeniQ focuses on integrating mechanical and biological processes to efficiently break down plant material into sugars that become sustainable fuels or industrial materials.

“EdeniQ has demonstrated significant promise in its effort to create a scalable, cost-competitive and high-quality supply of sugars,” said John Denniston, of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, one of the company’s lead investors, in an announcement about the latest funding.

Other investors in EdeniQ include Cyrus Capital, The Westly Group, Angeleno Group, I2BF Global Ventures, and Element Partners as well as a new investor, Flint Hills Resources Renewables, a subsidiary of privately held Koch Industries, Inc.

Flint Hills is among the largest ethanol producers in the U.S., with four ethanol plants in Iowa.

EdenIQ website

Carlsbad, Calif. – Verdezyne, a privately developer of fermentation technology for renewable fuels and chemicals, has raised $10.5 million in convertible debt, the company disclosed in a new filing with securities regulators.

Investors in Verdezyne include BP Alternative Energy Ventures, DSM Venturing, and OVP Venture Partners.

Founded in 2005, Verdezyne focuses on optimizing the metabolic pathways, microorganisms and fermentation processes that enable economical production of renewable fuels and chemicals.

The company has developed a yeast production platform that optimizes the conversion of sugars from a variety of feedstocks, including starch, sugarcane and lignocellulosic biomass to renewable fuels and chemicals.

Last November, the company opened its first pilot plant to produce adipic acid, a key component of nylon. The new facility is designed toaccelerate the commercialization of Verdezyne’s bio-based adipic acid, which is one of two components used to manufacture green’ nylon and thermoplastic polyurethane resins from renewable sources, such as non-food based vegetable oils.

Photo credit: Verdezye

Verdezyne website

Anoka, Minn. – Ever Cat Fuels, the privately held developer of a new process for producing biodiesel, has raised $800,000 in venture capital, the company just disclosed to federal securities regulators.

Begun in 2006 as an undergraduate research project at the University of Minnesota’s chemistry department, Ever Cat has developed a process that produces biofuels in a “fixed bed flow-through reactor.”

In 2008, the company built a commercial-sized production facility on a three-acre site in Isanti, Minn., which uses hydrous ethanol, rather than methanol, and corn oil extracted from distillers grains as the feedstock. Ever Cat’s production facility was financed in part by a $300,000 business subsidy and development agreement with the city of Isanti.

The use of feedstocks from a nearby ethanol plant makes Ever Cat Fuels’ cost of production nearly $2 per gallon lower than other biodiesel plants, according to a published report.

The company indicated in its securities filing that it plans to raise a total of $4 million in the current financing round.

Photo credit: Ever Cat

Ever Cat Fuels website

Los Gatos, Calif. – E-Fuel, a privately held, Los Gatos-based developer of technology for producing ethanol at home, has raised $2.6 million in venture debt, the company disclosed in a new filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Founded in 2007, E-Fuel has developed a “MicroFusion Reactor” that the company says will process all forms of cellulosic waste into sugar water, the key ingredient for ethanol fuel.

The MicroFusion Reactor operates as a continuous process, in which every 2 minutes the cellulosic material in the reactor’s chamber is completely processed and ready for fuel processing. Its method of wood hydrolysis dissolves any wood or other cellulosic agricultural material in a manner that is residue free, according to E-Fuel.

The machine’s output is comprised of sugar water and lignin powder. The sugar water is fermented by the MicroFueler into ethanol, while lignin is a substance used in the pharmaceutical industry as an ingredient in various cancer-fighting drugs, among other things.

According to the company, with its reactor, ethanol production costs can be as low as $0.56 per gallon, when combined with the energy saving effects of the MicroFueler and “GridBuster,” a wet ethanol-powered generator with a heat recovery feature developed by E-Fuel.

Photo credit: E-Fuel

E-Fuel website