Investment in biobutanol is growing.  BP and DuPont have entered into a joint venture to produce biobutanol from patented microbe technology.  In early July, the EU approved the BP/Dupont takeover of a failing American biobutanol maker in the U.K. New York Times

Last November, Patriarch Partners, a private equity company, bought the Old Town, Maine paper and pulp mill out of bankruptcy and refitted it to produce biobutanol from maple, birch and beech tree waste. The “new” Old Town Fuel and Fiber mill will continue to make pulp and plans to begin biobutanol production in 2011.

Biobutanol is a relative of ethanol, but with distinct advantages:

• it can be blended, at any ratio, with either gasoline or diesel fuel at existing refineries,
• it will not absorb water or sludge and it will not dissolve rust, therefore it can be transported by existing pipelines.
• its energy content is 30% higher than ethanol; and
• it it can be used in car engines without major changes.

Two hurdles remain. The EPA has not yet approved biobutanol as a transportation fuel in the U.S. To certify biobutanol, makers must show that it “produces 50% fewer greenhouse gases emissions on a ‘lifecycle’ basis than regular gasoline.”  New York Times

The second hurdle, which all alternative fuel makers face, is cost.  In the past, biobutanol has been more costly to produce than ethanol. Dupont believes it microbe technology will lower the cost and make biobutanol an ecomonically-feasible transportation biofuel. Old Town Fuel and Fiber hopes to reduce cost by using an otherwise discarded byproduct of its pulp-making process.

Biobutanol, which was abandoned after World War II as too expensive, may get a second chance.

Further reading:

http://www.patriarchpartners.com/

http://www.bangordailynews.com/detail/100229.html

http://www.allbusiness.com/energy-utilities/oil-gas-industry-oil-processing/11578283-1.html

http://domesticfuel.com/2009/07/21/synthetic-biology-for-next-generation-biofuels/

http://www2.dupont.com/Renewably_Sourced_Materials/en_US/biobutanol.html

Photo:http://www.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson/383416585/

Also published today at Environmental Headlines Examiner

Copyright 2009 - K.J.Collins