Biobutanol Production
The ability to produce butanol from biomass sources via fermentation has existed since the early 1900s. However, these older biobutanol processes are more expensive than today's petrochemical production processes. Today, butanol is produced almost entirely from petroleum.
Renewed interest in butanol as a sustainable vehicle fuel has led to the development of improved biobutanol production processes. ButylFuel, LLC used a U.S. Department of Energy Small Business Technology Transfer grant to develop a process aimed at making biobutanol production economically competitive with petrochemical production processes. For details, see Production of Butyric Acid and Butanol from Biomass: Final Report (PDF 3.8 MB). ButylFuel is planning to market its biobutanol as a solvent first, and then market it as a fuel in the future. Download Adobe Reader.
DuPont and BP are making biobutanol the first product of their joint effort to develop, produce, and market next-generation biofuels.