Posted on 12/04/2015 12:48:06 PM PST by Red Badger
Ethanol, which is produced from corn, is commonly-used as an additive in engine fuel as a way to reduce harmful emissions and scale back U.S. reliance on foreign oil. But since ethanol is an oxygenated fuel, its use results in a lower energy output, as well as increased damage to engines via corrosion.
But now a research team, led by William Jones at the University of Rochester, has developed a series of reactions that results in the selective conversion of ethanol to butanol, without producing unwanted byproducts.
"Butanol is much better than ethanol as an alternative to gasoline," said Jones, the C.F. Houghton Professor of Chemistry. "It yields more energy, is less volatile, and doesn't cause damage to engines."
In fact, Jones was able to increase the amount of ethanol converted to butanol by almost 25 percent over currently used methods. Jones describes his process in a paper just published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
Converting ethanol to butanol involves creating a larger chemical molecule with more carbon and hydrogen atoms. Although both molecules have a single oxygen atom, the higher carbon-to-oxygen ratio in butanol gives it a higher energy content, while the larger size make it less volatile.
One method of converting the ethanol to butanol is the three-step Guerbet reaction, which involves temporarily giving up hydrogen atoms in an intermediate step, then adding them back in to create the final product. One problem with the Guerbet reaction is that an intermediate product—acetaldehyde—can react with both itself and the butanol product to create unwanted molecules.
Jones modified the Guerbet reaction by using iridium as the initial catalyst and nickel or copper hydroxide, instead of potassium hydroxide (KOH), in the second step. While the best current conditions for the Guerbet reaction convert ethanol to butanol with about 80% selectivity, Jones' reaction produced butanol in more than 99 percent selectivity. No undesirable side products are produced.
"There's still more work to do," said Jones. "We'd like to have a catalyst that's less expensive than iridium. Also, we want to make the conversion process last longer, which means figuring out what currently makes it stop."
Jones says the process currently terminates after one day because one or more of the substances—the iridium, nickel, and copper—has broken down.
"Once we solve the remaining problems," said Jones, "we may be able to start looking for ways to apply the conversion process in the making of renewable fuels."
Explore further: Cars could run on recycled newspaper, scientists say
Journal reference: Journal of the American Chemical Society search and more info website
Rest In Peace, old friend, your work is finished..... 
If you want ON or OFF the DIESEL 'KnOcK' LIST just FReepmail me..... This is a fairly HIGH VOLUME ping list on some days.....
As Jack Benny would say, “Oh Rochester.”.
I don’t see it discussing the only thing that really matters, cost.
If it is starting with ethanol, which is already more cost per mile than gasoline, then it is a worse solution than ethanol. It has the cost of ethanol, and then additional processing cost.
True, but ethanol does damage and butanol does not, plus it has almost the same energy content as that of gasoline............it’s a start maybe to more energy independence........................
For more cost.
it's a start maybe to more energy independence
So would you want it done by Government Mandate, or by Tax Payer Subsidy?
Only Dire Straights can get money for nothing. The rest of us has to wonder how many gallons of ethanol it takes to create one gallon of butanol.
The article talks about a 99% conversion selectivity, meaning that 99% of what is created is butanol, and 1% is other byproducts, but it doesn’t say how much butanol is created per gallon of ethanol.
There may come a time when foreign imports of petroleum are scarce due to war, political upheaval or other disasters, and frackers will have been driven from their fields thru insane laws or fear of earthquakes, so when that happens we need a ‘Plan B’, and this just might be it..........................
Which is why we have the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
we need a 'Plan B', and this just might be it
Mandate? Subsidy? or both?
Farmers are used to smelly things but women are a harder sell. Butanol is the sickly smell of a Sharpie marker.
Butanol, the gasoline substitute promoted by billionaire Richard Branson, is headed for its debut at U.S. pumps as soon as next year in a challenge to ethanol’s domination of the $26 billion renewable fuels market.
Like ethanol, the colorless alcohol can be brewed from corn, though it packs more energy when mixed into gasoline. Butamax Advanced Biofuel LLC, funded by DuPont Co. and BP Plc, is retrofitting an ethanol plant in Minnesota to begin making butanol in commercial volumes in 2015. Gevo Inc., backed by French oil producer Total SA and Branson through his Virgin Green Fund, already runs a distillery 60 miles away. Both say they’ve lined up clients for large-scale deliveries.
Maybe.
Unlike ethanol, butanol is less corrosive, doesn’t attract moisture which can cause harmful “phase separation” of the fuel, and can be mixed in ahead of time and shipped through existing pipelines. It has a higher energy value (110,000 Btu per gallon versus ethanol’s 84,000 Btu), and is safer because its flammability is similar to diesel fuel. So why aren’t America’s boaters, motorists and gas-powered tool and toy owners using butanol?
“Part of the answer is how the stuff is - or was - made,” wrote BoatUS Seaworthy Magazine Editor and Damage Avoidance Expert Bob Adriance. He says, “Back in the 1980’s when the government was looking at biofuels, the cost to produce butanol was much higher than ethanol. Congress also gave ethanol a head start 30 years ago with a subsidy to produce it from corn. However, the subsidy is now expired and new technologies have made the costs to produce both fuels similar, although butanol is ultimately far less expensive to produce in terms of the amount of energy delivered per gallon.”
Interesting.
butanol can be run in any modern fuel injection system with close loop O2 sensors. it is so close to octane in btu per gallon the computer has no problems keeping the mixture at the correct lamda. butanol is also not hydrophilic so it doesn’t phase separate with water contamination nor will it absorbed water from the air like ethanol, butanol is not corrosive to aluminium or copper like ethanol. it is a drop in replacement for octane in a gallon per gallon ratio. it had an octane rating of over 110 as well. it can be made by hydration of butane or butene a large component of wet natural gas. this is how it is made in industrial quantities today as a solvent. as for ethanol to butanol on a strictly btu to btu basis 1.4 gal of ethanol would make 1 gal of butanol at 100% conversion. during WW2 the United States used ABE fermentation to generate massive quantities of acetone,butanol,and ethanol used in synthetic rubber, explosives and a slew of other wartime uses. ABE fermentation can use any cellulose or hemicellulose source read, strae,paper,tree scraps, corn stover, the problem is ABE is not very efficient the organisms die at 10% titer. There is big work to GMO the bug to only make one of the three and to tolerate 20+% titers like yeast does for ethanol. Yes I am a scientist for those wondering. Some of my first Master’s research was in cellulitic biofuels, I work for big oil now but butanol represents the largest threat to the dominance of petrol when the cost per galon comes under 3 bucks it could give oil a run for the money. already butane to butanol is close because natural gas liquids are vastly over supplied due to shale gas.
Ah, no it hasn't. We have operated in this space for many decades. Economically feasible Butanol is not likely to happen anytime soon; if ever.
One more carbon ... Kinda like the difference between heptane and octane.
END SUBSIDIES and MANDATES now!
I can’t say much one way or the other about butanol, but the article errs when it asserts that the by-products of ethanol distillation are “unwanted”. The by products of ethanol distillation are animal feeds.
So what is the actual conversion rate for ethanol to butanol? 50%? 75%?
I wish I could send a BILL (as in Invoice) to the folks in Iowa for all of my incurred expense (Repairs, Replacement costs, loss of Mileage, Downtime etc etc etc) for their beloved Ethanol subsidies aka Frankin Fuel.
Jones’
reaction produced butanol in more than 99 percent
selectivity. No undesirable side products are produced.
That would mean a conversation rate of 99 %, which is really good. what’s more important is what is the conversion rate from carbohydrates to ethanol currently ethanol uses C6 sugars and ignores the C5 streams which is over 40% of biomass. some GMO yeasts can use pentoses the holy grail is a bug that digests whole cellulose and hemicellulose directly without pretreatment or enzymes. The ABE bacteria does this but with low efficiency and with a slew of co products plus the bug dies at a low yield in the titier it was only used in war time when no other alternatives were available. There are a number of biofirms trying to tuffen up the bug and breed out all but butanol as a metabolic. right now ethanol uses C6 sugars which are what you me and all other monogastric animals eat also known as food which is immoral to use food for fuel. The genius of butanol is it can be made from stuff we cant eat and the left over cellular biomass is high in protein could be feed to animals as feed.
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