It may not be as popular as ethanol, but Bedford Biofuels Companies are conducting studies on biobutanol and consider it as a viable replacement for petroleum. Several types of organic material such as wood, sugarcane, sugar beets, wheat and corn can be a source of biobutanol.

The reason why butanol grabbed the attention of Bedford Biofuel Company is that you can use it without making any changes on your gasoline –powered engines. Furthermore, butanol takes a longer time to evaporate compared to ethanol, enabling it to reduce the amount of emissions from vapor.

The Difference Between Ethanol and Butanol

Ethanol is a two-carbon molecule, while butanol is a four-carbon one. Therefore, you can conclude that the energy value of butanol is much higher than ethanol. This is the reason why Bedford Biofuels companies are trying to develop it as a fuel for jet engines. Apart from fuel purposes, chemical industries are keeping their eye on butanol, since it acts as an effective chemical solvent and intermediate. Furthermore, the chemical structure of butanol is less corrosive, which only means that it is less damaging to automobile parts, such as gaskets and valves, and other components related to the fuel distribution system of vehicles. Another feature of butanol that proves to be advantageous is that it does not absorb water.

Developers of Biobutanol

Gevo are currently developing variants of biobutanol designed for jets, trucks and automobiles. The company also started exploring advanced forms of biofuel such as isobutanol. Although developments are made in biobutanol, the company admits that it is not yet available in the market. However, the company is confident that biobutanol will replace gasoline in the future.

Another company that conducts studies in biobutanol is Cobalt. They are currently finding alternative ways on producing biobutanol. They tried producing butanol by converting non-food sources into butanol, such as corn and sorghum. If the experiment is successful, using low cost plant materials to produce plant materials will be possible.

Cobalt Claims that they are trying t apply advances in reaction management, strain improvement and separation technology to make the production of butanol lower, thus making it commercially marketable. The company’s CEO believes that their process will greatly reduce the production cost of biobutano, since it uses improved strains of microorganism to ferment and break down biomass. Their method also uses the latest equipment to reduce water and energy consumption, as well as manage fermentation during the process.

Bedford Biofuels also support academic research in biobutanol. Scientific breakthroughs reveal that a strain of bacteria can turn glycerol into butanol. One of the researchers claims that converting glycerol into butanol will greatly improve the production of butanol. Experiments show that a bacteria known as Clostidium pasteurianum eats glycerol, which in turn produces useful by-products. After consuming glycerol, the bacteria produce three types of alcohol by products, which include ethanol, paropanediol and butanol. Other by-products are butyric and acetic acid.

Biobutanol is undergoing developments and it will not be long before Bedford Biofuels distribute it in the market.