Researchers Boost Production of Biofuel That Could Replace Gasoline (Butanol)

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/butanol.htm

RESEARCHERS BOOST PRODUCTION OF BIOFUEL THAT COULD REPLACE GASOLINE

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Engineers at Ohio State University have found a way to double the production of the biofuel butanol, which might someday replace gasoline in automobiles.

The process improves on the conventional method for brewing butanol in a bacterial fermentation tank.

Normally, bacteria could only produce a certain amount of butanol -- perhaps 15 grams of the chemical for every liter of water in the tank -- before the tank would become too toxic for the bacteria to survive, explained Shang-Tian Yang, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at Ohio State.

Yang and his colleagues developed a mutant strain of the bacterium Clostridium beijerinckii in a bioreactor containing bundles of polyester fibers. In that environment, the mutant bacteria produced up to 30 grams of butanol per liter.

The researchers reported their results at the American Chemical Society meeting Wednesday in Washington, DC.

Right now, butanol is mainly used as a solvent, or in industrial processes that make other chemicals. But experts believe that this form of alcohol holds potential as a biofuel.

Once developed as a fuel, butanol could potentially be used in conventional automobiles in place of gasoline, while producing more energy than another alternative fuel, ethanol.

Yang said that this use of his patented fibrous-bed bioreactor would ultimately save money.

“Today, the recovery and purification of butanol account for about 40 percent of the total production cost,” explained Yang, “Because we are able to create butanol at higher concentrations, we believe we can lower those recovery and purification costs and make biofuel production more economical.”

Currently, a gallon of butanol costs approximately $3.00 -- a little more than the current price for a gallon of gasoline.

The engineers are applying for a patent on the mutant bacterium and the butanol production methodology, and will work with industry to develop the technology.

This research is funded by the Ohio Department of Development.

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Contact: Shang-Tian Yang, [phone]; [e-mail]
Written by Pam Frost Gorder, [phone]; [e-mail]

[dtotire]

1. That Could Be Great news

There are 110,000 BTU's per gallon with butanol vs 115,000 per gallon in gasoline. about the same.



BP's Bet on Butanol

Forget ethanol: it's hard to transport and gives bad mileage per gallon. Another alcohol, butanol, is a much better renewable fuel, says the president of BP Biofuels.

Philip New, president of BP Biofuels, a recently created company within the giant British oil producer, thinks it has a solution: butanol. While butanol, like ethanol, can be made from corn starch or sugar beets, its properties are a lot more like gasoline than like ethanol. That means it can be shipped in existing gasoline pipelines. And it contains more energy than ethanol does, which will improve mileage per gallon.


http://www.technologyreview.com/read_article.aspx?id=18443

[hunter]

2. Petroleum derived butanol makes its way into gasoline.

I've pumped gasoline that's got a strong t-Butanol odor.

ARCO (now BP) used to sell a gasoline with a blend of Methanol and t-Butanol. Methanol has some serious proplems as a gasoline additive, it's not well behaved. Then an inexpensive process was developed to manufacture MTBE ( Methyl tert-butyl ether ) from these two components and the unhappy result was the extensive contamination of ground and surface water with MTBE.

I've always been fascinated by the economics of the rapid conversion of gasoline producers to MTBE blends. I don't think it had much to do with clean air concerns at all. I suspect the clean air advertising and government lobbying were greenwash. MTBE gasoline was simply profitable and the producers would have made it anyway, probably giving it some cute trade name and mystical attributes.

"Now with PowerMeth! It's what your engine craves..."