Biobutanol, the “World’s First Advanced Biofuel” to Debut in the United Kingdom

Dupont Company, with its collaborative energy-company partner, British Petroleum, BP, have announced the planned distribution and marketing of biobutanol-blended gasoline in the United Kingdom in the fall of this year. The initial blend will be 16% biobutanol to 84% gasoline. Touted as the “world’s first advanced biofuel”, biobutanol (or butanol produced from biomass) is a 4-carbon alcohol, which is reported to have advantages over ethanol (a 2-carbon alcohol) in terms of energy content and ease of distribution.

According to David Anton, DuPont venture manager for the project, biobutanol has 85% of the energy content of gasoline compared to ethanol’s 65%. It could also be easily distributed through existing pipelines, which is not the case for ethanol. The production technology can also be tailored to take in a variety of biomass feedstocks, including wheat, corn or sugarcane. According to Michelle Reardon, Dupont spokeswoman, “It’s going to provide new markets for key crops”.