Energy is the crucial need of society for survival and development. Today, it is mainly attained from dead plants, and animals. These are fossil fuels that are not renewable and are not clean for the planet. Furthermore, it brings about conflicts between nations. Strictly speaking, this type of fuels should not be well-kept-up too much and too long. The same decree is aimed to the nuclear fission power. The invention of biofuels as new energy source seems to be the first right stride to sustain our need of energy longer, cleaner and safer.
Biobutanol is a four-carbon alcohol derived from the fermentation of biomass. Plants and plant-derived materials (e.g. cereal crops, sugar cane and sugar beet) are biomasses that are harnessing energy captured by photosynthesis. When biomass is burnt it gives off energy with net zero greenhouse gas.
Industrial production of biobutanol began in 1916. A method of ABE (Acetone, Butanol, and Ethanol) fermentation was used with bacteria Clostridia acetobutylicum. Butanol is a by-product of this anaerobic fermentation process. Yield of each pound of acetone is accompanied with the formation of two pounds of butanol.
However, there is a problem with this type of microbe; that is, the microbe is killed off by the butanol it produces once the alcohol concentration rises above 2 percent. Therefore, biobutanol productions from ABE fermentation could not compete on a commercial scale with butanol produced synthetically by the petrochemical industry.
Moreover, due to the steadily increase in petroleum prices, new production processes need to be developed. The recent discovery of genetically modified organisms or microorganisms by scientists has set the stage of biobutanol to be produced more efficiently on an industrial scale. Great strides have been made by researches in creating microbes that can tolerate higher concentrations of butanol without being poisoned or killed. One is found by James Liao at the University of California, who developed E.Coli strains with genes coding for 2 enzymes that convert keto acides into aldehydes, and then aldehydes into 1-butanol. When further controlled, the microbes were able to produce butanol at much higher efficiencies which are suitable for industrial productions. Another investigation by scientists is by the modified of the strains of Synechococcus elongatus that can produce biobutanol directly from carbon dioxide.
An increase in energy content in butanol over ethanol has triggered a number of companies to invest in butanol for a new transportation technology. Many companies are trying to produce millions of gallons of biobutanol per year by retrofitting an existing ethanol plant. The process can utilize much of the existing ethanol production system, but uses cellulosic yeast strains engineered to produce butanol instead of ethanol. In June 2006, DuPont and BP formed a partnership to develop new biobutanol production technology using lignocellulosic feedstocks. In 2009, BP and DuPont formed ButamaxTM advanced biofuels. The first commercial-scale biobutanol facility is expected to begin operating in 2013 as previously BP and DuPont announced its establishment of a $32 million advance biofuels research center for demonstration of biobutanol technology in last November 2009.
Biobutanol is such an attractive source of energy and currently attracts more attention of specialists than ethanol. Some advantages of biobutanol over ethanol are biobutanol contents 25% more energy than ethanol; moreover, in safety point of view butanol is safer as it evaporates 6 times less than ethanol and butanol is less volatile by factor of 13.5 than gasoline. Butanol can be mixed with gasoline and can be used as fuel while ethanol is used as additive only. At combustion, butanol does not produce sulfur and nitrogen oxides or dioxides which are advantageous from the ecology viewpoint. However, it is not usual for one type of fuel to have so many advantages without at least one shimmering disadvantage. The only real disadvantage of biobutanol is that there are more ethanol refining facilities than biobutanol. However, the possibility to retrofit ethanol plants to biobutanol is feasible as refinements continue with genetically modified microorganisms – the feasibility of converting plants become greater and greater.
In conclusion, it is clear that biobutanol is the right choice over ethanol or other type of fuels as gasoline additives or perhaps gasoline replacement in the near future. Biobutanol plants should have the most technological and political support to reduce the dependence of a country on foreign supply of petroleum and increase in development of agriculture.
