The Advantages of Biobutanol Over Ethanol

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Ethanol has recently come under fire for a variety of reasons. Ethanol uses more energy to be produced that it can yield, it drives up the cost of food crops, and it cannot be shipped efficiently (Hargreaves.) So what can be done about the problems with ethanol? Is there a better option for alternative fuel? Yes, biobutanol is the answer. Biobutanol is butanol that has been created by a biomass fermentation process that is similar to ethanol, but the resulting fuel has a few key advantages. Biobutanol is more feasible fuel source then ethanol, it can make use of existing infrastructure, and biobutanol has been proven to replace gasoline gallon for gallon.

Butanol is a four-carbon alcohol that is currently used as a commercial solvent. Butanol can be made from the same biomass that produces ethanol, and is called biobutanol when it is made from such a process to distinguish the fuel produced from petroleum based butanol. Using biobutanol as a fuel is beneficial because of biobutanol’s energy content. Bioutanol is capable of producing 110,000 Btu’s per gallon. When compared to ethano...

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