Cycloloco
Joined: 24 Nov 2005
Posts: 192
Location: London, UK.
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 Posted: Fri Jul 07, 2006 2:16 am Post subject: Biobutanol |
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I found a brief ref to biobutanol in a Financial Times article on 22 Jun 06 (FT Companies and Markets Section, p42) so I have searched for 'butanol' on Powerswitch and I can't find any reference to date. We have missed the latest possible fuel. There is plenty of publicity for ethanol and biodiesel and I expect biodiesel to continue in production but butanol appears to be a better product than ethanol for taking over from, or blending with, petrol because it is less volatile and has higher specific energy and can be carried through current pipelines.
BP and Dupont are working on production techniques and British Sugar, part of Assoc Brit Foods, will be trying it in Norfolk. Butanol was produced by fermentation during the first half of the 20th C but petrochemicals took over. Now we will go back to fermentation with the extra benefit of genetic modification to produce higher yields (as for ethanol).
EROEI will be positive, probably in single figures. Nothing like for fossil oil but there will be fairly clean fuel in future.
Google 'biobutanol' to find commercial sites and a Wikipedia article. |
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