During a conference about climate change held in Asturias, Spain, a board member of BP, Luis Javier Navarro (completely unrelated to me) affirmed that butanol is a key factor in future fuels and that BP is investing in them. He said biofuels that compete with the food industry are an "error" and biofuels should otherwise be obtained from waste.

About CO2 capture, Mr. Navarro also spoke about how BP is reinjecting CO2 into empty natural gas fields thus managing to have at least one plant which produces no CO2. He also commented about BP's upcoming plans in generating electricity in Scotland from natural gas, with the resulting CO2 being reijected into empty oil fields under the North Sea.

Last and not least, he saw no immediate substitution for oil-derived fuels for at least 40 years. Instead he offered the alternative that the oil industry should try to be as carbon efficient as possible. Of course, he asked for a stable legal frame to guarantee further developments.

Related:

• BP, Sugar British and Dupont unveil plans to produce biofuels
• Interview with Philip New, president of BP Biofuels, regarding their focus on butanol

[Source: Europa Press via Econoticias]

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]