Bio Fuels - Cleantech Forecast
Historically, investment and public interest in biofuels have been directly proportional
to the price of oil. When crude oil hit a peak of $146 per barrel in July of 2008,
biofuels—and in particular ethanol—became a topic of interest in the United States.
Based on the number of patents granted and on the number of patent applications
filed in recent years, the biofuels cleantech sector, has all the characteristics
of a nascent field. As shown in the Biofuels Forecast chart, to date, there are
no clearly dominant players with well established biofuel patent portfolios. However,
based on the number of patents projected to be issued from 2009 through 2012, the
biofuels sector seems to be entering a significant growth phase.
For the year 2009, the authors predict that some 189 biofuel patents will be issued.
This represents a 100% increase when compared to the year 2005. The 2009 number
is likely to almost triple by 2012 when approximately 530 biofuel patents are expected
to be granted. Notably, the biofuels cleantech sector is not dominated by a handful
of companies or institutions, and instead, patent filings come from a very broad
and diverse group. Biofuel patent holders and filers range from oil companies such
as ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil, Chevron and Shell to suppliers of industrial equipment
and electronic devices such as Siemens and Bosch.
In terms of what can be expected in the near future, General Electric and Novozymes
(a unit of Denmark’s Novo Nordisk Foundation) are expected to become significant
contributors to the development of biofuels in the next four years. GE is focusing
primarily on the development of technologies that allow turbines to run on biofuels
while Novozymes focuses on enzymes necessary for the production of cellulosic ethanol,
i.e., ethanol produced from plant cell walls as opposed to plant sugars or starches.