Butanol vs Ethanol

[MurrayM]

A new (actually, quite old) contender in the biofuel game;

Company produces world's first biofuel made from whisky waste - Home | As It Happens | CBC Radio

Branson’s Butanol Heading to U.S. as Ethanol Substitute - Bloomberg Business

 

[Capthead]

There's no doubt Butanol is better. I've been reading about it at least a decade but getting around the farm lobby is a huge hurdle plus making it inexpensively hasn't been easy either.

I saw where they drove a car across the US and back on butanol. Just adding a few gallons to your tank before a smog check will make your old car cleaner than new. Lots of benefits. Doesn't combine with water, corrode pipes, has almost the same BTU as gasoline therefore you get the same mileage and HP.

It can be made from switch grass, etc. etc.

So where do you get it? At a paint store and that's been refined from fossil oil.

 

[DavidM]

That film has one glaring error. The heat of combustion of butanol is about 25% less than gasoline- 14,200 btu/lb (LHV) for butanol and about 19,000 for gasoline. The specific gravity for butanol is a little higher than gasoline. So the overall mileage on butanol will be 19% less than on gasoline. The film says that it will be the same.

It was also telling to see the lab technician operate the bench scale plant with no safety glasses on.

That operation is not ready for prime time.

David