Butanol Fuel is a great alternative renewable source of energy
Butanol is a fuel that can be produced by fermentation of biomass and fossil fuels. It si basically an alcohol with a 4 carbon structure that is used as a solvent in chemical synthesis.
As is is similar to gasonline and ethanol, it is also used in internal combustion engines. In fact, it can be used in vehicles meant for gasoline use, without much modifications.
There is not many changes in the production of butanol from ethanol production.
The only difference that can be stated is the fermentation of the feedstock and minor changes in the distillation process.
Feedstocks used for fermentation of butanol is similar to that of ethanol where energy crops like sugar beets, wheat, sugar cane, corn grain, cassava and some by-products of agriculture like straw and corn stalks are used.
Butanol is better than ethanol as a source of energy as it tolerates water contamination better and is less corrosive than ethanol.
Morever, it is possible to retrofit existing bioethanol plants at a reasonable cost so that it starts producing butanol instead of ethanol. It is because ethanol has an energy content that is similar to that of gasoline that many people prefer using butanol as a fuel.
Butanol need not be stored in high pressure vessels like natural gas nor does it have to be blended with fossil fuel to reap its benefits.
It is possible to transport butanol through existing pipelines for its distribution purposes. morever, butanol can be easily reformed for its hydrogen content, so that it is distributed with the require purity for fuel cells or vehicles at existing gas stations.
Researchers expect to see an increased demand for the production of butanol because of its growing acceptance as a renewable source of energy and the incentives it provides to agriculture and industry. in addition to this, its reducing production costs, the increasing prices for other fossil fuels and the need for cleaner sources of energy have provided the necessary boom to the butanol industry.
It has been suggested to start smaller and turnkey biorefineries that hold 5 to 30 million gallons of butanol per year to fund the fuel needs for small muncipalities and farms. This will provide state of the art technologies at a rate that is much faster than ever achieved in the past.
With these local biorefineries, all problems associated with the environment like regional landfill burdens and the disseminating fuel generation in the Corn and Bio-Belt will be addressed.
Morever, with these cooperatively owned generators, it is possible to employ more people, and thus retain profits in the cooperative to bring about multiplication in the economy of the cooperative.
Butanol and hydrogen is produced from biomass without much technological difficulties when compared with the manufacture of ethanol.
In fact, the increased demands for the by-products of fermentation for producing butanol are considered to be sources of revenue for reducing the cost of producing butanol as an alternative source of energy.
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hey there,
really nice post. Solar power becomes more and more popular these days, hopefully new solutions will appear to solve existing energy problems.
Keep it up!
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