Interview with Philip New, president of BP Biofuels, regarding their focus on butanol
Filed under: Ethanol
We have shared with you the benefits of butanol over other potential biofuels in past articles. The basics are that butanol can be created from the same crops that are currently being used to create ethanol, and butanol carries more energy density. Ethanol is viewed mainly as a starting point for the biofuel alcohol industry, with butanol being the next logical step. Butanol was created with use in automobile applications in mind right from the start, which was not the case with ethanol, according to Philip New, president of BP Biofuels. The article with his comments can be found here and is definitely worth a read if you are interested in alcohol fuels. What are the chances that butanol takes ethanol's place in the biofuel market any time soon? I'm not sure, but I do know that backing from a huge oil company like BP is a good start.[Source: Technology Review]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
3-27-2007 @ 5:06PM
Howard Lee Harkness said...
I'm a fan of biodiesel, which has even higher energy density than biobutanol. However, biobutanol does make more sense than ethanol -- especially since most current ICE autos can use it straight with no modification. It also is a bit less volatile, doesn't require as much special handling, and isn't quite as hydrophilic as ethanol. So, at least in the next several years, biobutanol may be one of the better alternatives.
Whether it's better than biodiesel in the long run depends on the economics, but I am certain the economics of biobutanol are at least an order of magnitude better than the economics of hydrogen. Maybe we'll see both in common use.
I'm still waiting for my biodiesel PHEV... I'm hoping that battery technology will be far enough along by the time the engine in my new little pickup wears out that it will be feasible to do an EV conversion.
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3-27-2007 @ 6:25PM
Tim said...
There are a lot of gasoline cars in the US. The most rapid way to replace petroleum in the EXISTING fleet with the EXISTING infrastructure would be to use biodiesel from non-food sources like algae or waste products like old fryer oil combined with butanol produced from waste (non editable) cellulosic starches. Turning trash into fuel makes sense. In effect… recycling.
Ethanol is for drinking, especially corn ethanol ;)
Replacing the enough of the current fleet with more efficient IC engines, then PHEV-40s and ultimately pure EVs (Battery or even H2 snicker) to make a real difference will take place over the next 15-20 years with the height of the curve on the back end.
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3-27-2007 @ 10:13PM
MikeW said...
Isn't the viscosity of butanol a bit much for older cars?
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