Mascoma Corporation has entered into a series of strategic relationships to further its efforts to build its first commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol plant based on its consolidated bioprocessing methodology in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

A new report released by the American Academy of Microbiology outlines the potential for microbial energy conversion as a partial solution to the problems of energy shortages and climate change

Mascoma Corporation, a cellulosic biomass-to-ethanol company (earlier post), has raised $30 million in its second round of venture funding. The financing was led by General Catalyst Partners, with additional participation from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Vantage Point Venture Partners, Atlas Venture, and Pinnacle Ventures, as well as existing investors Khosla Ventures and Flagship Ventures.

The Executive Committee of the University of Tennessee Board of Trustees approved a business partnership between the University and Mascoma Corporation to build and to operate jointly a $40-million cellulosic ethanol biorefinery with a production capacity of 5 million gallons per year. Pending a successful permitting process, construction is expected to begin by the end of 2007 and the facility will be operational in 2009.

Marathon Oil has made a $10-million equity investment in Mascoma Corporation, a developer of cellulosic ethanol based on the single-step biochemical conversion of non-grain biomass into low-carbon alternative fuels. The investment was part of a $61-million financing round, Mascoma’s third.

General Motors Corp. and Mascoma Corp. have entered a strategic relationship to develop cellulosic ethanol based on Mascoma’s Consolidated Bioprocessing single-step biochemical conversion of non-grain biomass into low-carbon alternative fuels.

Integrated Genomics, a bioinformatics company, and Mascoma Corporation, a new cellulosic ethanol company, have entered into a contract to analyze the genome of a microbe important to breaking down cellulosic biomass for conversion into ethanol.

SunEthanol Inc. has secured Series A funding, including an investment from corn ethanol producer VeraSun Energy, to support commercialization of its consolidated bio-processing (CBP) technology based on the “Q Microbe” (Clostridium phytofermentans). Consolidated bio-processing condenses the multiple steps of biofuel production into a single process, potentially resulting in a lower cost of production.