Collaborative Research and Development Agreements, Government Programs and Licenses - Additional Information (Detail) (USD $)	1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended			1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended			1 Months Ended		12 Months Ended			1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended		1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended				12 Months Ended				1 Months Ended
	Nov. 30, 2011 gal	Dec. 31, 2013	Dec. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011	Jan. 31, 2013 Archer Daniels Midland Extension Warrant [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Archer Daniels Midland Extension Warrant [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Minimum [Member] Archer Daniels Midland Extension Warrant [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Maximum [Member] Archer Daniels Midland Extension Warrant [Member]	Nov. 30, 2012 Collaboration Agreement [Member] Annual [Member] t	Jan. 31, 2013 Archer-Daniels-Midland Company [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Archer-Daniels-Midland Company [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Mitsui & Co., Ltd	Feb. 28, 2013 Mitsui & Co., Ltd	Sep. 30, 2011 Department of defense [Member] Phase 1 [Member] gal	Dec. 31, 2011 Department of defense [Member] Phase 1 [Member]	Sep. 30, 2010 Department of defense [Member] Phase 1 [Member]	Aug. 31, 2011 Department of defense [Member] Phase 2 [Member] gal	Dec. 31, 2013 Department of defense [Member] Phase 2 [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Department of defense [Member] Phase 2 [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Department of defense [Member] Phase 2 [Member]	Sep. 30, 2010 Department of defense [Member] Phase 2 [Member]	Dec. 31, 2013 Department of Energy [Member]	Dec. 31, 2012 Department of Energy [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Department of Energy [Member]	Dec. 31, 2009 Department of Energy [Member]	Jul. 31, 2011 Unilever	Mar. 31, 2011 Unilever	Sep. 30, 2013 Unilever t
Collaborative Arrangements and Non-collaborative Arrangement Transactions [Line Items]
Proceeds from collaborative R & D agreement																										$ 750,000	$ 750,000
Contract amount													20,000,000			5,600,000					4,600,000					1,500,000
Supply agreement																												10,000
Delivered diesel fuel under contract														75,000			75,000
Contract revenues														0.0	1,100,000			0	700,000	3,900,000
Unbilled revenue		1,101,000	3,150,000															0	0			0	2,100,000
Deferred revenue																		0	0			0	0
Funds awarded to partially fund an integrated biorefinery																									21,800,000
Company recognized revenues																						0	9,200,000	7,000,000
Renewable fuels	450,000
Jet fuel	100,000
Marine distillate fuel	350,000
Initial production capacity per year									20,000
Initial expansion production capacity per year									40,000
Expanded production capacity per year									100,000
Warrants to purchase number of common stock										500,000
Warrant vesting period					5 years					5 years
Additional warrants to be granted under extension of contract					500,000
Warrant measurement date										Jul. 31, 2013
Rent expense related to lease		7,100,000	2,800,000	2,000,000							100,000
Fair value assumptions, risk-free interest rate						1.40%
Fair value assumptions, exercise price						$ 7.17
Fair value assumptions, expected remaining life							5 years 1 month 6 days	5 years 2 months 12 days
Fair value assumptions, volatility						61.00%
Warrant shares vested, shares						16,666
Fair value assumptions, stock price							$ 8.96	$ 10.56
Milestone revenue recognized												$ 4,000,000