Dupont, BP Join to Produce Biofuels

comcast/AP ^ | June 20, 2006 | RANDALL CHASE

[wouldntbprudent]

DOVER, Del. - Chemical maker DuPont said Tuesday it will begin marketing biofuels for the transportation sector next year through a partnership with oil company BP PLC.

The companies said a collaboration they began in 2003 has advanced to the point where they plan to introduce butanol made from sugar beets as a gasoline blending component in the United Kingdom.

[P-40]

Any word from Al Gore? :)

[bmwcyle]

A Jesse Jackson twofer, Dupont and BP.

[P-40]

Like ethanol, butanol is an alcohol compound, but with four carbon atoms instead of two. DuPont officials said the different chemical structure of butanol gives it several advantages over ethanol, including tolerance to water contamination, facilitating transportation via pipeline.

The U.S. fuel market has been constrained by the fact that ethanol, which attracts water molecules and therefore tends to corrode pipelines, must be transported on trucks, trains and bargest in relatively small batches to storage terminals where it is then blended with gasoline.

Another advantage of biobutanol, officials said, is that it can be blended into gasoline at higher concentrations than ethanol without the need to retrofit vehicles, and it offers better fuel economy than gasoline-ethanol blends.

[Sonny M]

If they are telling the truth in the article, then this is a prodominant business decision and a wise one, with financial motivations, which means the media will ignore it.

[IronJack]

Mark my words: the oil companies are realizing that their stranglehold on American energy is weakening. I suspect they'll wait until the last minute, then make the jump to alternate fuels as soon as they've bullied all the smaller producers out of that field, or bought up all the technology to make it work.

[P-40]

If they are telling the truth in the article

This would sure kick ethanol's corn-fed butt.

[Fraxinus]

This would sure kick ethanol's corn-fed butt.

This would probably reduce the demand for pure ethanol, but I think from the article that this is just a catalyzed dimer made from ethanol.
As for corn well.....In addition to sugar beets, other possible feedstocks for biobutanol production include sugar cane, corn, wheat and cassava. As the science progresses, cellulosic feedstocks from grasses or agricultural byproducts such as straw and corn stalks might also be used.

[P-40]

but I think from the article that this is just a catalyzed dimer made from ethanol.

That is kind of what it sounds like...but it sure does sound easier to work with the stuff. I wonder what is involved in converting an ethanol facility to produce biobutanol.

[thackney]

Butanol
http://peswiki.com/index.php/Directory:Butanol

Butanol is largely compatible with and in some ways better than, gasoline. It's air/fuel mixture (Stoichometric A/F Ratio) is 11.2 (Standard Gasoline is 14.7, ethanol is 9.) which allows butanol to, just about, function in a standard gasoline engine. Its energy content is about 105,000 Btu per US gallon. In effect butanol has about 92% of the energy of gasoline. In actual driving conditions, as butanol has a strong power and torque content, drivers will use a lighter foot on the accelerator and hold a higher gear longer, fuel efficiency will approximately match that of gasoline. It can be mixed with gasoline in any ratio in unmodified engines. Additionally, as butanol has a very low vapour pressure point (RVP 0.3) and a high Flash Point (FP 37 degrees Celcius) it is a very safe fuel to use in high temperatures. Butanol can be produced at an estimated cost of 85 cents per gallon, and is a direct replacement for gasoline, which ethanol cannot be. Butanol also has a high cetane number (CN25, diesel averages CN45, ethanol CN9) which allows butanol to be blended with petrodiesel and with vegetable oils (where it also reduces the gel temperature point and the viscosity) to produce biodiesel, with some positive environmental effects. Consequently, butanol is a very versatile fuel and fuel extender in both gasoline and diesel engines. It can do things that ethanol will never be able to do. Its manufacture from biomass will enhance the progress towards a biofuel World.

Advantages
-Higher energy content than ethanol.
-Not as corrosive as ethanol.
-Uses an air/fuel ratio which is close to that of gasoline. Ethanol does not.
-Can be shipped through existing fuel pipelines where ethanol must be transported via rail, barge or truck.
-Can replace gasoline any percentage up to 100%. Ethanol can only be used up to 85%.
-Gives better mileage than ethanol. (http://www.businessweek.com/autos/content/apr2006/bw20060427_493909.htm?chan=autos_autos%20indexpage_insight)
-Safer to handle than ethanol.
-Will also assist in the conversion of vegetable oils into biodiesel.

Production
Most commercial Butanol is produced petrochemically. Butanol can also be produced by fermentation of biomass with the bacterium Clostridium acetobutylicum (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clostridium_acetobutylicum), which produces a low yield. David Ramey of Ohio and his company, Environmental Energy, Inc. have developed a two stage fermentation process.

In this process, biomass feedstock is first fed to the bacteria Clostridium tyrobutyricum, where a large percentage is converted into butyric acid and hydrogen. In the second process, the butyric acid is fed to the bacteria Clostridium acetobutylicum, where it is converted into butanol. Ramey has claimed a 42% butanol yield from this process.

Environmental Energy Inc (http://www.butanol.com/) - has developed and patented 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. Using corn feedstock the production cost is estimated at $1.20 per gallon.
ChemLac Inc. (http://www.butanol.com/page2.html) (subsidiary of EEI) dramatically improves cost efficiencies to produce biobutanol by eliminating the corn feedstock accounting for 40% of the production cost of corn based alcohol fuels. By utilizing whey lactose, a by-product of cheese manufacturing as the process feedstock, ChemLac Inc. eliminates the raw input material cost, reducing the production cost to $0.85 per gallon.

Energy Content
in Btu/gallon

- 64,000 Methanol
- 84,000 Ethanol
- 105,000 Butanol
- 114,000 Gasoline
- 120,000 Biodiesel
- 130,000 Petrodiesel

[thackney]

I'll post this pic but I believe ethanol octane is higher than this, it comes from a site pushing butanol.

[P-40]

Interesting. Thanks for posting that. Do you know what would be involved in converting an existing ethanol plant to one that can produce butanol? Given that ethanol is a pain to work with...butanol seems like the better product.

[P-40]

the smaller producers out of that field

The energy bill favored the smaller producers; that is a plus. And since much of the biofuels market is old technology, with the exception of the enzymes for biomass processing, it would be hard for the oil companies to take over. They can still make a lot of money, but they won't be able to control the market.

[thackney]

Do you know what would be involved in converting an existing ethanol plant to one that can produce butanol?

No. Butanol is a new topic for me. It looks worthwhile to learn about however.

[IronJack]

with the exception of the enzymes for biomass processing

I'm looking closely at a plant near here that is using that technology in a "closed-loop" system that will use much of the biomass to feed the energy demands of the distillation process. It will be interesting to see if the energy yields being predicted match reality, because if they do, combined with some other energy-recovery systems, this plant -- relatively small by today's ethanol standards -- will produce enough methane to actually sell back into the grid. Or it can be fed to the boilers to power the electrical needs of the plant.

REAL energy innovation at work.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

An instructive lesson as to why government would do best just to butt out of the fuels market. Right now, the Bush administration has saddled urban areas with a 10 percent ethanol blend in their gasoline. Butanol seems to be a much better choice for a blend, once the production gets up and running.

[P-40]

An instructive lesson as to why government would do best just to butt out of the fuels market.

The tax credits and government support of alternative fuels has been in large part responsible for the meteoric rise of the research and production of these alternative fuels. The high prices have also helped, but without the strong indication that the government will ensure these products can make it to market, that alone would have not been enough .

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

The government was also responsible for the price of ethanol going to the moon as the ethanol additive requirement ramped up demand for the stuff. It is currently making gasoline more expensive.

[P-40]

The government was also responsible for the price of ethanol going to the moon

They could have handled that better...