The hunt for a commercially viable biobutanol could finally be over thanks to an inspired, if ironic, bit of recycling by scientists working at Edinburgh Napier University in Scotland.
They’ve taken the two main waste products from the Scotch whisky production cycle and brought them together in a process which outputs biobutanol, long heralded as a next generation biofuel because it produces up to 30% more power than ethanol and can be used in existing combustion engine cars without modification.
The process has now been patented by the University which has also set up a limited company to leverage the commercial possibilities of the invention.
Professor Martin Tangney, Director of the Biofuel Research Centre at Edinburgh Napier University, believes the biofuel could be sold at garages alongside normal gas. He said, “I would expect to see this as a fuel in forecourts in years rather than decades”.
The irony of the discovery is that biobutanol was first produced in Scotch whiskey stills by Chaim Weizmann, although his aim was to produce acetone and butanol was just a by-product. Recent attempts have focused upon using a form of the yeast Weizmann used in existing ethanol plants, genetically modified to produce more butanol and less acetone and ethanol.
The new process could be applied much further afield than the Scotch whiskey industry. This produces 1,600 million liters of pot ale and 187,000 tonnes of draff annually, the two waste products which are used by the process to create biobutanol.
However these waste products are common to all whiskey manufacturing processes, so it’s possible the process or a slightly modified version of it could be used by the whiskey industry worldwide.
Furthermore draff is also produced by most forms of grain-based beer making, vastly expanding the potential scope of applications of a modified version of the process.
All this is in the future. For now, perhaps the most important point is that the biobutanol is coming from a waste product, not a specially grown crop.
As Professor Tangney comments, “While some energy companies are growing crops specifically to generate biofuel, we are investigating excess materials such as whisky by-products to develop them. This is a more environmentally sustainable option.” Amen to that.
Picture Credit: Glenrothes still house 2 by yvescosentino from flickr under Creative Commons Attribution License.
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About Chris Milton
Save the Environment – Drink Up!
Save the Environment – Drink Up!
Save the Environment – Drink Up!
I think that as more research is done, we will find that there are many other industries that have waste viable for conversion into biofuels. Ethanol from sugar waste products, and biobutanol from whiskey waste products is just the beginning. It reminds me a little of the biodiesel-from-used-vegetable-grease trend, but I think many of the logistics problems could go away when collecting from large factories rather than tiny restaurants. The companies that win here will have to come up with a process that accepts different fuels with only minor adjustments and can be replicated to use fuel from many different industries.
I think that as more research is done, we will find that there are many other industries that have waste viable for conversion into biofuels. Ethanol from sugar waste products, and biobutanol from whiskey waste products is just the beginning. It reminds me a little of the biodiesel-from-used-vegetable-grease trend, but I think many of the logistics problems could go away when collecting from large factories rather than tiny restaurants. The companies that win here will have to come up with a process that accepts different fuels with only minor adjustments and can be replicated to use fuel from many different industries.
I think that as more research is done, we will find that there are many other industries that have waste viable for conversion into biofuels. Ethanol from sugar waste products, and biobutanol from whiskey waste products is just the beginning. It reminds me a little of the biodiesel-from-used-vegetable-grease trend, but I think many of the logistics problems could go away when collecting from large factories rather than tiny restaurants. The companies that win here will have to come up with a process that accepts different fuels with only minor adjustments and can be replicated to use fuel from many different industries.
I think SPEC Engineering have a great point and one which the biofuel industry really needs to take on board … it is the *reuse* of waste products which needs to drive biofuel production, not the growth of biomass crops. The former is sustainable, the latter is not.
It would be interesting to find out if SPEC Engineering had any experience of process management in such circumstances …?
I think SPEC Engineering have a great point and one which the biofuel industry really needs to take on board … it is the *reuse* of waste products which needs to drive biofuel production, not the growth of biomass crops. The former is sustainable, the latter is not.
It would be interesting to find out if SPEC Engineering had any experience of process management in such circumstances …?
Plenty, Chris. We’ve done a complete preliminary engineering package for a biodiesel facility using rendered oil from their existing facility. We also designed and built a pilot scale operation for Feed Resource Recovery whose technology provides supermarket and restaurant locations with on-site waste-processing systems that converts previously discarded food waste into a source of renewable energy and organic fertilizer. So these types of projects are not only limited to industrial processes, but other businesses as well which handle this type of waste.
Excellent work, if I may so! Discarded food is one of my great bugbears so anything which can handle it properly is really great! Of course, we need als to make sure that waste isn’t there in the first place.
Its not new technology. France has been using paper recycling to achieve similar fuels..PS…we should go back to steam engines / two stroke assembly, with a twist, Magnatron Generators(Micro Wave) instead of Spark Plugs, and water as a fuel…ps this works…well, at least, in my prototype…
Hi Forrester,
As I’m sure you know, we at Gas2 are very keen to learn about alternative fuel options to power a car. If you have properly scientific results to share with the global post-gas community, then please get in touch and we’ll be happy to feature them at a later date!
Chris
Hi Chris, sorry for uploading comment, all I have at the moment is a working prototype, some notes, calculations and a garage like a war zone, initial tests have been good, 118 hrs using 27ltr of sweet water, and one wet cell charge, with constant output on the shaft of 33rpm and 120ft/lbs, sorry for lack of data, im no an engineer, just hobbiest with some crazy idea’s..