BP prepares output of new biofuels - algae diesel and butanol - starting in 2010
BP could become the first major energy company to start commercial scale production of cellulosic ethanol in 2010 if all goes according to plan. BP has been partnering with Verenium Corporation to commercialize the latter company's process for breaking down cellulose into sugars. Verenium has been running a demonstration plant in Louisiana that can produce 1.4 million gallons of ethanol annually. The Verenium process relies on enzymes to break down the cellulose, allowing it to be converted to alcohol, and the company claims almost complete conversion. The new plant will use grasses as a feedstock.
BP is also actively involved in a number of other biofuel projects including algae diesel and butanol. BP is planning to start biobutanol production at a British plant using wheat straw in the 2012/13 time frame. Butanol is seen as an important biofuel because its energy content is closer to gasoline than ethanol and it can be used in most existing engines without modification. The oil giant hopes to have demonstration butanol production running next at a UK facility.
[Source: Reuters]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Matt 9:19AM (11/05/2009)
Why do we not use butanol in the US? Is it just because it's so easy to make ethanol from corn? I mean, we do have a lot of corn, but if it's just going to turn into ethanol, can't we grow something else in its place next year that would make butanol? Is there some emissions reason I don't know about? Maybe it's just because we're so good at making whiskey already...
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GoodCheer 9:39AM (11/05/2009)
I usually try not to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but in this case I can't help it. There are two vast organizations that depend on the business of corn; Monsanto and Archer Daniels Midland. Both are enormously active (and effective) on K Street (where the lobbyists work in Washington), because they can prop up their arguments on the notion of supporting farmers (which is good) and promoting food security for America and for the world (which is good). By law, both should be subject to anti-trust actions, as both control the lion's share of their respective areas (Monsanto supplies seeds, ADM buys crops), but for some reason neither has.
Dave 9:42AM (11/05/2009)
This is a 2006 article, but it looks to have some good info.
"Butanol currently sells for about $3.70 per gallon in bulk (barge). "
"Butanol is presently manufactured from petroleum."
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2006/09/why-isnt-butanol-more-prevalent-45946
neptronix 12:18PM (11/05/2009)
The answer is quite simple.. America subsidizes the production of corn, and thus, it is the cheapest plant to use for biofuels, period. Until algae fuel production becomes competitive, we're kind of stuck with corn-derived ethanol.
This is also why we have copious amounts of high fructose corn syrup in everything, instead of real sugar.
Dave D 4:18PM (11/05/2009)
butanol can be made from corn...or any other stock that is used to make ethanol. It's just a different set of enzymes, etc to make butanol compared to ethanol. It really is just a matter that ethanol is much more established and understood so there is already an infrastructure in place (you realize that ethanol got it's big head start because we like to drink it with silly little umbrellas and stuff for the last 10,000+ years...so we understand how to make it pretty well by now LOL)
Butanol just needs to catch up with respect to infrastructure and experience (but please don't drink this one because like gasoline or methanol....it will kill you).
The big Ag companies that control all the corn and stuff really don't care either way because their corn can be used for both ehtanol or butanol so they are not part of whatever conspiracy may or may not exist for ethanol vs. butanol. I strongly believe the big Ag companies are evil monopolies....this just isn't one they care about.
Ethanol's advantages are more a matter of all the tax breaks, infrastructure and simple experience with ethanol that has it out front right now. Oh...did I mention the ethanol lobby that kind of helps by sliding in laws here and there that hurt butanol and methanol? LOL
Anyway, Carney is right that we should make all cars FlexFuel enabled and then let the market pricing/pressures eventually determine which one is used and where.
Matt 7:28PM (11/05/2009)
I agree with carney on that point. I don't think it's the only answer, but it does have strong merrits.
don 10:36AM (11/05/2009)
a google "news" search of "BP biofuel" will yield many similiar stories, this is not from 2006.
the striking difference between this and some of those is "BP could become the first major energy company to start commercial scale production of cellulosic ethanol in 2010 if all goes according to plan." a few of the other stories offer 2012 as the earliest date for commercial production.
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neptronix 12:20PM (11/05/2009)
Someone's actually producing algae fuel - this is great news.
Good to hear that this is not 'snake oil'.
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Joeviocoe 3:21PM (11/05/2009)
you can run your car on snakes???
gorr 1:12PM (11/05/2009)
The best for BP is to grow green algae fuels( bio-diesel, butanol, plastics, asphalt, chemicals, fertilizers, animal feeds ) with almost free feedstock ( algae ). They can feed algae growing with their big co2 emissions at their refineries and petrol extraction sites. They can install green algae farms at any natural-gas or coal electric plants where co2 is constantly recycled into fuels via algae growing for zero fuel cost and zero pollution.
Anyone can start a green algae little farm and sell fuels like butanol or bio-diesel or fertilizers and a lot of useful other products, it cost 100 000$ maximum to start. Just use wastewater from the town or the air or a chimney somewhere.
Each chimney can be cleaned and become an endless self-fueling no cost no pollution
power station.
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Matt234 6:25PM (11/05/2009)
Hey, not bad. Well over half that post was coherent.
warren 3:28PM (11/06/2009)
Solix has a algae demonstration facility On the Southern Ute Reservation in Colorado utilizing waste water and CO2 from wells on the reservation. They claim to have the ability to produce oils that can be converted into fuels such as green diesel, biojet and biodiesel.
http://www.solixbiofuels.com/content/technology/demonstration-facility
Carney 2:32PM (11/05/2009)
Butanol is a good and interesting fuel, especially given its apparent ability to be swapped in for gasoline in some "gasoline-only" cars.
However I hope that it doesn't stall the drive to make full flex fuel capability a standard feature in cars. Full FFVs can run on any alcohol fuel, including methanol, ethanol, propanol, and butanol.
That sort of flexibility is what we'll need to provide too many targets for the oil cartel to be able to squash.
I haven't seen recent info on butanol's pricing but I suspect it is quite high. Ethanol is at least in gasoline's ballpark (if we dropped the tariffs on cheap imported ethanol it would be even more competitive), and methanol is often far cheaper.
The future I envision would have butanol as a premium, high-mileage fuel and a gasoline substitute for antique cars from the bad old monofuel pre flex fuel days, with methanol being the bargain fuel and ethanol being the mid-grade offering.
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Josh H. 5:08PM (11/05/2009)
This is great news to hear. At Mississippi State we have been working with alternative fuel sources for several years. This will add one more to the mix and maybe alternative fuels will really start to catch on with the general public.
http://www.Green-Garage.com
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Anthony 3:05PM (11/06/2009)
You all should have watched the recent show on Bio-Fuels on Autoline Detroit -
http://www.autolinedetroit.tv/show/1336
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jfinlayson+autoblog 5:40PM (11/06/2009)
"Butanol is seen as an important biofuel because its energy content is closer to gasoline than ethanol and it can be used in most existing engines without modification"
... and because it can be distributed through existing petrochemical pipelines, unlike ethanol and methanol, which are too hydrophilic for that.
Algal oil has a long way to go. There are two general approaches. The first is open-pond, which the DOE worked on starting in the 80's, figuring that closed systems would be prohibitively expensive (and they are). But they couldn't solve the problems of wild-strain contamination and temperature control with open ponds.
More recently, focus has been on closed systems (bioreactors). But the capital costs are extremely high (which again is why the DOE chose to attempt open ponds). I see estimates that it could compete with petro-oil at $800/barrel. There are a lot of other renewable alternatives that can beat that.
It would be great if algal oil could be made economically, but I wouldn't expect much anytime soon. Economies of scale will not be enough. It's going to take some major breakthroughs, such as a GM algae that can outcompete wild strains and actually excrete oil, so that the costly and energy-intensive steps of harvesting, extraction and separation can be bypassed.
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