Biobutanol Better than Ethanol - 4/06/07

Suddenly everyone hates ethanol.  Ethanol takes more energy to produce than it yields.  There are problems shipping it.  It is driving the price of food up.

BP and DuPont have partnered to explore commercializing Biobutanol.  Philip New with BP said this pilot program should produce biobutanol economically very soon.  BP has also stated they don’t believe there will be just one major breakthrough but multiple ones. 

Biobutanol has multiple advantages over ethanol.  First Biobutanol is nearly as efficient as gasoline where corn based ethanol is only about 70% as efficient as gasoline.

Biobutanol does not absorb water like ethanol.  Biobutanol does not need to be shipped separately and blended with gasoline close to the filling station.  It can be blended with gasoline at the refinery and share the same infrastructure with other petroleum fuels.

The only difference between the production of biobutanol and ethanol is the enzyme used in the process.  Both are fermented from a food crop. 

Biobutanol could solve the efficiency and transportation problems, but like ethanol it still relies on food crop for its production. 

Ethanol has cause corn prices to surge which has increase the price of other foods like corn syrup and corn meal use to feed cattle. 

The key is if a cheap enzyme can be found to make cellulosic ethanol made from any plant matter “not just food crops” then maybe a similar enzyme can be found to make biobutanol out of agriculture plant waste or switch grass.

Learn More: A Competitor For Ethanol Called Biobutanol

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