Fulcrum Bioenergy Readies Stock Offer

Garbage-to-ethanol start-up Fulcrum BioEnergy has filed for an initial public offering of stock worth up to $115 million. The firm plans to use the money to help it build a 10 million-gal-per-year plant near Reno, Nev. In the filing, Fulcrum says it has long-term contracts with firms such as Waste Management that will deliver municipal solid waste to its facilities for free. The contracts provide enough feedstock to produce 700 million gal of ethanol per year at an unsubsidized cost of $1.30 per gallon, according to the firm. Fulcrum has licensed gasification and catalytic technologies to produce the ethanol.