Butanol production may become easier in the future, according to scientists.
Butanol is a more efficient fuel additive than ethanol, but currently more difficult to produce. However, a team at the University of Bristol in the UK has discovered a new family of catalysts that could allow butanol to be produced in factories currently producing ethanol. The method would allow ethanol to butanol conversion with less factory retro-fitting than is currently required.
Although ethanol has become a leading biofuel, it has several disadvantages. It has a lower energy content per gallon than petrol, which thus increases consumption. Ethanol also has a corrosive effect on car engines and is difficult to use in amounts higher than 10-15%.
Butanol contains about 30% more energy per gallon than ethanol, is easier to handle and greater quantities can be blended into petrol. According to the scientists, it is even possible to fuel a car and run it on pure butanol.
Reported at the 245th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society, the discovery means that butanol could become "the gasoline of the future".