{"id":41478,"key":"Biobutanol_as_fuel","title":"Biobutanol as fuel","latest":{"id":1209207,"timestamp":"2025-11-28T01:48:06Z"},"content_model":"wikitext","license":{"url":"https://www.appropedia.org/Appropedia:Copyrights","title":"CC-BY-SA-4.0"},"source":"{{Topic notice}}\n\n[[File:Wheat field.jpg|thumb]]\n\nBiobutanol is a an alcoholic (bio)fuel that can be used as a direct gasoline substitute in unmodified internal combustion engines.\n\nButanol is far less corrosive than ethanol and can be shipped and distributed through existing pipelines and filling stations. Butanol solves the safety problems associated with the infrastructure of the hydrogen supply. Reformed butanol has four more hydrogen atoms than ethanol, resulting in a higher energy output and is used as a fuel cell fuel. Butanol is an industrial commodity, with a 370 million gallons per year market with a selling price of $3.75 per gallon.\n\n* Butanol is a pure alcohol with an energy content similar to that of gasoline.\n* It does not have to be stored in high pressure vessels like natural gas, and can be but does not have to be blended (10 to 100 percent) with any fossil fuel.\n* Butanol can be transported through existing pipelines for distribution.\n* Butanol can help solve the hydrogen distribution infrastructure problems faced with fuel cell development.\n* can be blended with petrodiesel and with vegetable oils (where it also reduces the gel temperature point and the viscosity) to produce biodiesel. Consequently, butanol is a very versatile fuel and fuel extender in both gasoline and diesel engines.\n\nBiobutanol is superior to ethanol in its lower vapor pressure and increased water contamination tolerance.{{Verification needed}} {{Verification needed}}\n\n=== What Is Biobutanol? ===\n\nBiobutanol, like ethanol, is part of the '''bioalcohol''' group of fuels. However, it differs in its molecular structure, allowing it to be blended with gasoline at higher concentrations without requiring engine modifications. This property gives biobutanol a key advantage over ethanol, which can corrode engines at higher blends and often requires infrastructure upgrades.\n\nBiobutanol is typically produced by fermenting biomass using specific bacterial strains, most commonly ''Clostridium acetobutylicum''. The process, known as '''acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE) fermentation''', yields biobutanol, acetone, and ethanol as co-products, making the entire process more economically viable.\n\n==== Production ====\n\nBiobutanol can be produced using the A.B.E. process which uses the bacterium Clostridium acetobutylicum. It can also be made using Ralstonia eutropha H16. This process requires the use of a electro-bioreactor and the input of carbon dioxide and electricity.<ref>[http://www.gizmag.com/generating-isobutanol-using-electricity/22005/ Biobutanol production from CO²]</ref><ref>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biobutanol#Technologies</ref>\n\nBiobutanol is produced from sugar beets, corn, sorghum, wheat, sugar cane, and cassava.\nIt can be used as is or blended with gasoline and ethanol. Biobutanol is produced from sugar beets, corn, sorghum, wheat, sugar cane, and cassava.\n\nThe production of biobutanol is good for farmers because it supports the production of agriculture feedstocks that are used in biofuel production.\n\n==== Benefits of Biobutanol as Fuel ====\n\nOne of the key benefits of biobutanol is its higher energy content compared to other biofuels, such as ethanol. Biobutanol’s energy content is about '''85-90% of that of gasoline''', whereas ethanol has approximately 70%. This means vehicles running on biobutanol blends can travel further on the same amount of fuel.\n\n==== Projects ====\n\n* http://www.osti.gov/energycitations/product.biblio.jsp?osti_id=5250695\n* http://web.archive.org/web/20110820035358/http://sleekfreak.ath.cx:81/3wdev/VITAHTML/SUBLEV/EN1/WOODWAST.HTM\n* http://web.archive.org/web/20110619074146/http://www.fao.org:80/ag/AGA/AGAP/frg/lrrd/lrrd10/1/doel101.htm\n* http://www.fao.org/documents/show_cdr.asp?url_file=/docrep/T0115E/T0115E0h.htm\n* http://web.archive.org/web/20081118193908/http://www.arapahoe.edu/aboutacc/assessment/CHE/05S-06P.pdf\n\n== References ==\n\n<references />\n\n== External links ==\n\n* [http://opensourceecology.org/wiki/Acetone-butanol-ethanol_fermentation Acetone-butanol-ethanol fermentation]\n* Wikipedia: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butanol Butanol]\n* Wikipedia: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acetone-butanol-ethanol_fermentation Acetone-butanol-ethanol fermentation]\n* PESwiki: [http://peswiki.com/index.php/Directory:Butanol Butanol]\n* Wikipedia: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clostridium_acetobutylicum Clostridium acetobutylicum]\n* Article: [http://tchie.uni.opole.pl/freeECE/S_18_1/Kaminski_18(S1).pdf BIOBUTANOL - PRODUCTION AND PURIFICATION METHODS]\n* Company: [http://www.butanol.com/ Green Biologics] - a lot of proprietary stuff\n* [[Wikipedia:Biobutanol]]\n\n{{Page data\n| license = CC-BY-SA-3.0\n| description = Biobutanol is a cleaner alternative to fossil fuels. Appropedia explains how it’s produced and why it's more efficient than older biofuels.\n}}\n\n[[Category:Alcohol fuels]]"}