Butanol is considered an “advanced biofuel” and is said to have several advantages over ethanol, like its higher energy density, lower water affinity and lesser corrosion capacity. Companies like Dupont and BP have jumped into the “butanol bandwagon” to produce butanol using saccharine materials like sugar beets. Recently, a research team from Washington University in St Louis and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), are developing a sequential process to produce butanol from a more abundant resource, lignocellulosic biomass (like corn fiber). The sequential process involves the (1) pretreatment of the lignocellulosic biomass to make it amenable to microbial attack, (2) anaerobic digestion of pretreated biomass for conversion to butyrate (a four-carbon acid) by a mixed culture of microorganisms, and (3) fermentation of butyrate to butanol. The team from the USDA will do the pretreatment and butanol fermentation part, while the team from Washington University (headed by environmental engineer, Lars Argenent), will do the mixed culture anaerobic digestion part..