Why make a $2 fuel when you can make a $5 chemical” – Cobalt CEO Rick Wilson

Biofuels Digest
Jim Lane March 16, 2011

Cobalt CEO Rick Wilson challenges himself, policymakers, and the industry, to focus on the importance of cost advantage in establishing and financing an integrated biorefinery industry.

“Why make a $2 fuel when you can make a $5 chemical?” asks Cobalt CEO Rick Wilson, whose company was branded in the public eye as Cobalt Biofuels for several years, but has morphed towards “Cobalt Technologies” (its original name) and is squarely focused on the market for renewable chemicals for the time being. By any name, it’s a hot company, ranked #14 in the world in this year’s 50 Hottest Companies rankings.

“I’m not saying that any of the companies, including us, should not be pursuing fuels. The markets are huge and the molecules work. But the country has got all its priorities screwed up. Here we are chasing fuels, which is the hardest problem to solve, instead of incentivizing or supporting companies to get into business by solving some of the easier problems first, like chemicals or other bio-based products?”

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