Biobutanol is gaining a lot of attention lately as an alternative fuel source that can be used in gasoline engines directly. It’s a specialized form of butanol created from fermenting biomass that’s similar to conventional corn-based ethanol. It however scores above ethanol by being as equally efficient as gasoline instead of offering a 70% fuel efficiency that comes with regular corn-based ethanol. This means you’ll need less biobutanol to cover the same amount of distance. It also means that although corn-based ethanol emits less CO2 it does have a tendency to raise food prices and is less efficient fuel economy wise than both diesel and gasoline making it a poor candidate as a substitute for oil.
Biobutanol offers more power than ethanol but isn’t being commercially produced on a large scale due to higher costs. While the procedure for producing biobutanol is essentially the same as ethanol, the difference in its key ingredient, an enzyme needed for the fermentation process. Finding the right enzyme for an affordable price that allows any type of plant matter to be converted to biobutanol remains a challenge.
Once researchers have figured that out, biobutanol could emerge to be the next biggest alternative clean fuel. It has many advantages over ethanol aside of offering more fuel efficiency.
Firstly since ethanol production and biobutanol production are virtually identical, the same facilities can be used to produce biobutanol commercially.
Secondly biobutanol does not absorb water like ethanol so it wouldn’t suffer issues like corrosion or water contamination during transportation. It can be easily distributed through the present infrastructure used to deliver gas meaning that existing facilities can be used without having to go to extra expense to create new ones. This makes the process of introducing biobutanol into the global market a relatively seamless one.
Obtaining the right enzyme at an affordable price can make the commercial production of biobutanol economically feasible some day. However the issues of using food as fuel still remain. While ethanol sounds like a viable clean source of fuel, the use of corn to make it has pushed up corn prices, which in turn hikes up the price of all corn associated food products.
Even if biobutanol doesn’t have the efficiency and transportation issues associated with ethanol it still relies on food crops as its base material. What’s required is a cheap enzyme that would enable fuel producers to produce biobutanol from grass or wood chips instead; which would present a breakthrough in the race to create a workable replacement to fossil fuels.
Current enquiry into sustainable fuels has promoted a renewed interest in biobutanol as a viable alternative. The U.S. Department of Energy issued a grant to ButylFuel, LLC to develop processes to make biobutanol production commercially and economically viable.
Supporters of biobutanol believe that it’s possible to drive existing vehicles with 100% biobutanol with little or no vehicle modifications. There have been limited tests on this claim. According to ButylFuel a vehicle was driven on 100% biobutanol cross country.
The company plans to market biobutanol as a solvent to begin with and as an environment friendly fuel later in the future.
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