Biobutanol.

[Urederra]

I found this piece of news in chemical and engineering news (on paper) and it is quite promising. so I looked for a good linky to open this thread.

DuPont and BP to introduce 'biobutanol'
BP and DuPont signalled a breakthrough in biofuels on Tuesday, saying they were close to producing a plant-derived fuel more advanced than ethanol.

The new product, biobutanol, produces more energy than ethanol and can be used in vehicles more easily without modification to engines. Demand in the US for ethanol as an additive and alternative to petrol has led to record trading volumes for corn and soaring investor interest in ethanol companies.

The companies will make the fuel in an Associated British Foods factory that was being built to produce ethanol from sugar, with production of 9m gallons of biobutanol expected in 2007.

Whereas ethanol produces only about three-quarters of the energy of conventional petrol when burned, biobutanol could produce as much as 95 per cent.

Conventional engines can cope with fuels that incorporate 5-10 per cent ethanol, but can take much higher levels of biobutanol without modification. But biobutanol is more difficult and expensive to produce than ethanol.

BP and DuPont said they would use existing technology, "but enhanced", to make biobutanol at first, to get it to market quickly.

Work on more advanced technology would be completed by 2010. Tom Frost, associate director at Numis Securities, said the market for biofuels was looking strong. "It's clearly a benefit if you can use this without changing engines." Chad Holliday, chief executive of DuPont, said the fuel would not be competitive with petrol: "We have not been able to make [biobutanol] at a cost and a price point that our customers would use it. We believe we can accomplish that [in the future]."

George Weston, chief executive of Associated British Foods, said the biobutanol plant would cost £20m ($37m) to £25m and was being underwritten by BP.

The partners have drawn up plans to build larger-scale plants in the UK at a cost of more than £100m each, pending the results of a feasibility study. The plants will rely on surplus C-grade sugar, which up until recently was exported by British producers, before the changes to the international sugar quotas forced by the World Trade Organisation.

Mr Weston said the new outlet for the surplus sugar would be a boon for UK agriculture.

As well as providing an alternative to oil, biofuels reduce greenhouse gas emissions because the plants from which they are made take up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as they grow.

C&EN news also points out that fermentation derived butanol can be competitive without subsidies when oil prices are in the range of $30 to $40 per barrel.

1-butanol has several advantages over ethanol, including low vapor pressure and tolerance to water contamination in gasoline. Ethanol attracts water molecules and tends to corrode normal distribution pipelines. Consequently, it must be transported by truck rail or barge in relatively small amounts to storage terminals, where is blended with gasoline.

And it can be blended into gasoline in higher concentrations than ethanol without having to retrofit vehicles. It also offers better fuel economy than gasoline-ethanol blends.

Malthus couldn't be more wrong, now we are using corn and beets to power our cars.

 

[Cuivienen]

Why did it take so long to think of something that doesn't evaporate as easily as ethanol?

(And giggling at "biobutanol". Just call it butanol! Trying to appeal to environmentalists, I guess.)

 

[Urederra]

yeah... be will end up consuming bio-octane, as a gasoline substitute.

I guess that it took so long because the process to produce 1-butanol from sugar is more difficult than the process to produce ethanol.

 

[Mr. Blonde]

The reason they waited so long is that the biobutanol that is produced in fermentation processes comes in much smaller yields than ethanol because it is a byproduct of fermentation, ethanol is a main product. I guess they had to increase this yield with either genetically modified bacteria or yeast and optimised fermentation conditions.

They knew very well that 1-butanol is better than ethanol, they waited until they could produce it at a competitive price.

 

[Abaddon]

Wierd.. you mentioned this thread being ignored.. and for days my dad has been harping on about some shares he has in "DuPont" and i hadn't bothered to look.

"Biobutanol" Another biofuel i will have to look into.. added to an increasingly lengthy list!

 

[Urederra]

Why are you bumping all my threads?

 

[Abaddon]

i think the above post is pretty self explanitory..