Cnet.com shows us how Edinburgh Napier University’s Biofuel Research Center in Scotland have learned how butanol biofuel can be made with Scotch whisky by-products. Thirty percent more energy is received with the waste Butanol than Butanol would vie when made from ethanol, reports an MIT Technology review. Miles per gallon are likely to go up from this. Butanol is up to 25 percent more efficient than ethanol, writes Sky News.
New whisky based biofuel has lees limitations than ethanol does
Ethanol had to be mixed with regular gas when butanol doesn’t. This is because butanol is already a key part of gasoline. As outlined by Technology Review, butanol will be able to go through pipelines. Unlike ethanol, it doesn’t absorb water.
Loving corn
Tax credits, favorable tariffs and government subsidies are all available to U.S. corn growers. This is because of the Renewable Fuel Standard. The Bastiat Institute indicates that the ethanol industry also has the ear of Congress, as its Fueling Freedom Plan calls for higher ethanol mix caps and more costly engines to accommodate the new mix. This is bad news. Taxpayers will have more things to pay.
Bastiat also thinks that since taxpayers have been giving so much to pay for ethanol fuel research, the ethanol lobby needs to back off of the government. Ethanol less than 10 percent would make octane better, although whiskey-based butanol is likely to be the best option for fuel efficiency. Research into cheaper methods of producing butanol would more worthy of taxpayer dollars.
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Further reading
Bastiat Institute
bastiatinstitute.org/2010/08/19/the-ethanol-industry-and-competition/
CNET
news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-20013827-54.html
Grow the Energy
growthenergy.org/ethanol-issues-policy/fueling-freedom-plan/?/fuelingfreedom
MIT Technology Review
technologyreview.com/business/25956/
Video news coverage of Scottish butanol production
youtube.com/watch?v=PV3evuZiJ4w
