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BP: Commercial-Scale Biobutanol May Beat “Economically Sound” Cellulosic Ethanol to Market
12 November 2007
In an interview with the site Ethanol Statistics, BP Biofuels President Philip New said that the company hoped that it may have biobutanol available on a commercial scale before cellulosic ethanol is available on “an economically sound basis.”
I want to avoid setting expectations that are inappropriate on the basis of cutting edge biotech. There could be events that speed up things and set backs. We have our targets, but I hope that we will have butanol available on a commercial scale, before we have cellulosic ethanol on an economically sound basis.
—Philip New
In 2006, BP and DuPont formed a partnership to develop, produce and market next-generation biofuels to help meet increasing global demand for renewable transport fuels. The first product from the partnership is to be biobutanol. (Earlier post.)
Butanol’s energy content is closer to gasoline than ethanol’s. It is non-corrosive, can be distributed through existing pipelines, and can be—but does not have to be—blended with fossil fuels.
Biobutanol’s low vapor pressure and its tolerance to water contamination in gasoline blends facilitate its use in existing gasoline supply and distribution channels. It has the potential to be blended into gasoline at larger concentrations than existing biofuels without the need to retrofit vehicles and it offers better fuel economy than gasoline-ethanol blends, improving a car’s fuel efficiency and mileage.
November 12, 2007 in Brief | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)
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Posted by: Elliot | November 12, 2007 at 08:22 AM
Diversity is strength. We know the strengths and weaknesses of ethanol (cellulosic or otherwise). We have heard great things about butanol, so lets scale up and see if it is really is that good. If so, fine - use it, if not, try again.
It doesn't matter what we use as a fuel, just how well in works, in terms of pollution, efficiency, east of handling etc. etc.
Any fuel we can make from a biological feedstock can be very interesting, but we still have to allow people to eat.
We could have a new metric - miles per acre.
What is galling is seeing people think it is Ok to drive a 6000lb monster truck if it runs on ethanol - a miles per acre metric should make that clear.
Posted by: mahonj | November 12, 2007 at 02:03 PM
mahonj:
All USA's corn crop could produce enough grain ethanol for about 12% of the curent gas guzzler fleet. Most food price would multiply.
USA could produce enough biomass, from non-food land, to feed almost 80% of the current (road) USA fleet with cellulosic ethanol. This would have less direct effect on food price.
Could the same stocks produce enough bio-butanol, from non-food land, for all the current USA fleet including aircraft, ships, HVAC, power plants, commerce and manufacturing etc?
If so, for how long?
Posted by: Harvey D | November 14, 2007 at 06:00 PM
Looks so sweet, what is the raw material and what is the energy input / output ratio.
Posted by: Max Reid | November 16, 2007 at 06:55 AM
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Just so I don't get too excited:
1. How much pollution comes out of biobutanol? None? If none, is that counting the CO2 taken in when the feedstocks are growing? If so is that honest? What about NoX like diesel?
2. Currently it costs 3.75 a gallon, according to the other story. Is that liable to come down as they produce more of it, or go up? Short term I'd say it's likely to go up due to increased demand, but long term if it's well implemented and isn't harming anyone, could it fall in price to below current gas prices?
3. I know it's non-corrosive, but a solvent. Will this eat paint?
4. If it smells bad, how bad? Smells like what? How strong, and can it be masked?