Butanol As A Biofuel May Be Ethanol Alternative
Worcester Telegram:
Ethanol might reign as the king of biofuels, but several companies are betting that a close cousin may overcome some of its shortcomings.
Butanol has traditionally been used as paint thinner, cleaner and adhesive, but as a fuel additive it contains more energy than ethanol and could be blended into existing cars at higher percentages.
And unlike ethanol, butanol does not eat away at pipes so it doesn’t need to be shipped by truck. That could help the nation meet its aggressive renewable fuels standard of 36 billion gallons of biofuels to be blended into gasoline by 2022, said Andy Aden, a research engineer at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
“Our existing infrastructure has too many bottlenecks and it’s just not going to cut it,” Aden said.
Chemical maker DuPont Co. and oil giant BP PLC are working on a pilot plant in the United Kingdom that will produce butanol from such feedstocks as wheat, corn, barley and rye. The two companies have also teamed with British Sugar to develop a commercial-scale ethanol plant that eventually would be converted to produce butanol once the process is perfected. Full post.
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