July 14 to August 15, 2005 was the first run across the Nation on 100% Butanol. Demonstrating to the public that there is an alcohol made from corn that replaces gas right now if we had it.  The sooner we start making ButylFuel™  the sooner you will see it in your tank, go down the road - and stop Global Warming. The ’92 Buick Park Avenue got 24 miles per gallon on butanol with no modifications - normally gas is  22 mpg.  That is a 9 % increase.  In ten states Butanol reduced Hydrocarbons by 95%, Carbon monoxide to 0.01%, Oxides of Nitrogen by 37%, this in a 13 year old car with 60,000 original miles.  It runs great up hill and across the deserts. 

BioButanol is made from anything that grows on the planet

Butanol can be blended in any percentage with gasoline seamlessly with increase in performance
Butanol can be used in Biodiesel applications

Butanol: The Other Alternative

nabc.cals.cornell.edu/pubs/nabc_19/NABC19_5Plenary2_Ramey.pdf

What is butanol?  

Butanol is a four carbon alcohol. Alcohols are a family of chemical compounds that also include methanol (1-carbon), ethanol (2-carbon) and propanol (3-carbon). Some of the more common uses for alcohol are alcoholic beverages (ethanol), propanol is commonly used for rubbing alcohol,  chemical solvents - paint thinner and fuels. Initially, ButylFuel,LLC (BFL) will produce and market butanol as a solvent, with the future intent of selling butanol as a fuel.

How is butanol manufactured?

 ButylFuel, LLC  has developed a process which makes fermentation derived butanol more economically viable and competitive with current petrochemical processes and the production of ethanol.  This economic improvement was developed under a federal DOE/STTR grant from the Department of Energy through the Small Business program.

 Butanol is presently manufactured from petroleum. Historically (early 1900s – 1950s) biobutanol was manufactured from corn and molasses in a fermentation process that also produced acetone and ethanol and was know as an ABE (acetone, butanol, ethanol) fermentation. However, as demand for butanol increased, production by fermentation declined mainly because the price of petroleum dropped below that of sugar when the USA lost its low-cost supply from Cuba around 1954. BFL has developed and patented a process which makes fermentation derived butanol more economically viable and competitive with current petrochemical processes. (History of Butanol-1,   2,    3    )

 What are the common uses of butanol?

 Butanol is used primarily as an industrial solvent. The worldwide market is about 350 million gallons per year with the U.S. market accounting for about 220 million gallons per year. Butanol currently sells for about $3.70 per gallon in bulk  (barge) and $6.80 in 55 gallon drums.

 Butanol is also a  replacement for gasoline as a fuel, to an even greater degree than ethanol, due to more favorable physical properties, economics, safety and the fact that it works without having to modify the engine of your personal car.

 What are the technology possibilities behind butanol as an alternate fuel?

 Advances in bio-technology have made it possible that corn and other biomass materials can be an economic source of biobutanol derived by fermentation. Corn-to-butanol as a potential fuel source is just gaining visibility as an alternative to corn-to-ethanol.

 How does butanol compare with ethanol as an alternative fuel?

 Butanol has many superior properties as an alternative fuel when compared to ethanol. These include:

•  Higher energy content (110,000 Btu’s per gallon for butanol vs. 84,000 Btu per gallon for ethanol). Gasoline contains about 115,000 Btu’s per gallon.
•  Butanol is six times less “evaporative” than ethanol and 13.5 times less evaporative than gasoline, making it safer to use as an oxygenate in Arizona, California and other states, thereby eliminating the need for very special blends during the summer and winter months.
• Butanol can be shipped through existing fuel pipelines where ethanol must be transported via rail, barge or truck
• Butanol can be used as a replacement for gasoline gallon for gallon e.g. 100%, or any other percentage. Ethanol can only be used as an additive to gasoline up to about 85% and then only after significant modifications to the engine. Worldwide 10% ethanol blends predominate.

Why has there been little to no effort to promote butanol as an alternate fuel?

 Prior to the success of ButylFuel, LLC’s work, production of butanol from corn and other biomass has been stymied by the lack of technology to make it economically viable. The problem has been historically low yields and low concentrations of biobutanol compared to those of bioethanol.

 The historical ABE fermentation technology produces a variety of fermentation products. The ABE process uses bacteria to produce Acetone Butanol and Ethanol. This fermentation process yielded a 6:3:1 ratio of Butanol, Acetone and Ethanol.

 That is, for each bushel of corn you would garner (1.3) gallons of butanol (0.7) gallons of acetone and (0.13) gallons of ethanol with concentrations of 1-2%.

 If you compared ABE yield to that of the yeast ethanol fermentation process, the yeast process yields 2.5 gallons of ethanol from a bushel of corn, with concentrations of 10-15% it becomes very clear why ethanol was chosen as an alternative fuel source over butanol in the 1970's and 80's.

 ButylFuel, LLC's patent changes everything. We are now able to produce yields of 2.5 gallons of butanol per bushel of corn.

ButylFuel, LLC's patented discovery and the economics did not exist to pursue Butanol versus Ethanol as a viable alternative to gasoline until now.

What does ButylFuel, LLC bring to the table when it comes to producing butanol?

 ButylFuel, LLC has developed and patented technology that overcomes the limitations that have to date complicated and kept the cost of butanol production from corn and other forms of biomass high. BFL is now able to produce 2.5 gallons of butanol from corn with no Acetone or Ethanol, whereas others have not been able to achieve better than 1.3 to 1.9 gallons of Butanol per bushel and still utilize an ABE process. Further, BFL’s technology generates hydrogen which is likely to receive additional attention as an alternative fuel in the future. In fact, taking into account the hydrogen production, BFL can produce 42 % more energy from a bushel of corn than is typically produced by a corn-to-ethanol plant – 25 % of the difference lies with the butanol and 18 % comes from the hydrogen.

 What are the economics of the ButylFuel, LLC process?

 This will not be known in detail until we complete testing on the Bu-100 (100 gallons butanol per week) Demonstration model and the Bu-1,000 pilot plant. However, we can share the results of estimates we developed to established the merits of proceeding with these phases of the work.

 Our preliminary cost estimates suggest that we can produce biobutanol from corn for about $1.20 per gallon, not including a credit for the hydrogen produced. This compares with ethanol production costs of about $1.28 per gallon. Taking into account the higher Btu content of butanol, this translates to 105,000 Btu per dollar for butanol and 84,000 Btu per dollar for ethanol with corn at $2.50 per bushel. As a further point of reference, butanol produced from petroleum costs about $1.35 per gallon to manufacture.

 The economics of the ButylFuel, LLC process will be even more attractive when waste material is used as feedstock instead of corn and the price to produce a gallon is $0.85 . In such cases the need and cost to grow and prepare the corn for fermentation, by far among the major cost items, are eliminated.

 Are there other benefits of ButylFuel, LLC technology?

 Yes there are several.

• As an alternative fuel produced from biomass, BFL-produced biobutanol will be based on “green” carbon, and will thereby reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Also when burned, it produces no Sox or Nox, thereby yielding additional significant environmental benefit. Of course the same can be said for ethanol produced from biomass.
•  In displacing petroleum as a source of industrial chemicals and gasoline, butanol will help reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil, thereby helping to relieve world tensions and national security that emanate from oil issues.
• Widespread adoption of biobutanol as an alternative fuel to replace gasoline would stimulate an increased demand for corn and other organics as well as waste biomass. This is a significant way to revitalize the agricultural sector with sustainable jobs.
• Butanol from BFL's process also complies with the US Government's "Clean Air Acts" and the "Strategic Chemicals Acts".

BioButanol is made from the same 

corn, sugar beets, sorghum, cassava, sugarcane, corn stalks, and other biomass

as ethanol yet replaces gasoline drop for drop.

It is ours - yours, mine and our neighbors’ choice what we decide to make.

Check out:

The Race for New Biofuels 

http://pr.caltech.edu/periodicals/EandS/articles/LXXI2/arnold.pdf

Demo Run
BP and DuPont Fact Sheet

http://www.ethanol.org/pdf/contentmgmt/March_07_ET_secondary.pdf

Runnin' Clean, Keep'n it Green !