Scientists at Edinburgh Napier University’s Biofuel Research Center in Edinburgh, Scotland, have successfully used Scotch whiskey by-products to produce butanol biofuel, reports Cnet.com. MIT decided it was its place to review the product. They said that butanol made from ethanol is 30 percent less effective than this new stuff is in Butanol form. That means more efficient burning and also the potential for increased miles per gallon. Butanol is better than ethanol in efficiency. There is a 25 percent difference, says Sky News.
Whiskey-based biofuel unburdened by ethanol’s limitations
Ethanol must be blended with traditional gasoline (and only in limited amounts), when butanol suffers from no such limitation. This is because butanol is already a key part of gasoline. Furthermore, as Technology Review reports, butanol is easier to transport through pipelines than ethanol, as it does not absorb water in the same manner as ethanol.
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 expensive engines to accommodate the new mix. This is bad news. Taxpayers can 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. Butanol research would be preferred by some. Many would rather do that with their tax dollars.
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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
