Posted on 11/29/2013 6:25:04 PM PST by posterchild
You may not be able to drink and drive, but pretty soon your car will be able to. That's the goal of a new project based—where else—in Scotland that is using some next-level alchemy for a new take on the lead-into-gold cliché: turning golden whiskey into unleaded fuel.
Biofuel, that is.
Don't worry, they're not going to be taking your precious Scottish nectar itself to the pumps, it's actually way better than that. The folks at Celtic Renewables Inc. want to synthesize the waste left behind when the whiskey is finished, which accounts for as much as 90% of the raw materials, into something called biobutanol; basically ethanol with a Lance Armstrong complex. You see, ethanol, whose production is subsidized in the U.S. and is made primarily from government-subsidized corn, can only be used as a 10% additive to standard fermented dinosaur origin gas. But biobutanol is so damn potent, only ten or twenty percent less than gasoline's, it can be mixed at a much higher level.
(Excerpt) Read more at autos.yahoo.com ...
“The EPA’s idea is to put 15.2 billion gallons of ethanol in gasoline in 2014 rather than the 16.55 billion used this year.”
Sure sounds like a decrease.
——biobutanol——
Can be produced from Kudzu I understand but it is expensive.
Kind of right. The 2014 mandate was for over 18 billion gallons. That has been scaled back to around 15 billion gallons, same as 2012. The 2013 TARGET was over 16 billion gallons.
The numbers for 2013 aren’t actually in yet, and it’s well known that ethanol plants have been struggling with profitably. And blenders can buy RINs (Renewable Identification Numbers) to offset using less biofuel.
And, of course, it’s not a done deal. Final rules won’t be known for a few months.
If you’re driving, have another drink. Face traffic with confidence!
Corn: It's what food eats!
Ewe no wut I meen.
Next time I’m in your neck of the woods............
I just picked-up a bottle of Glenlivet ‘21’ ($149.92) on Saturday, and it is worth every penny. I’m out of my- pay grade now, so that’ll be a one-time purchase. Every sip is heaven.
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