Introduction to Biobutanol • Some literature on butanol by biochemical or

ethanol conversion route is discussed briefly

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o Butanol is a flammable alcohol that can

be made from fossil fuels like petroleum.

o Also, by a bioprocess from renewable

sources such as corn grain or stalks, cobs,

or other agro-wastes.

o In the petroleum industry, butanol has been

reserved mainly for the solvent and

cosmetics markets, which tend to bring

higher prices, rather than the motor fuel

market.

o The term biobutanol refers to butanol made

from renewable resources such as grain or

cornstalks by fermentation process.

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n-Butanol Applications

o Solvent –for paints, coatings, varnishes

o Plasticizers –to improve how a plastic material processes

o Coatings –as a solvent for a variety of applications,

o Chemical intermediate or raw material –for other chemicals

and plastics,

o Textiles –as a swelling agent from coated fabric

o Cosmetics –makeup, nail care products, shaving products

o Drugs and antibiotics, hormones, and vitamins

o Gasoline (as an additive) and brake fluid (formulation

component)

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o Butanol can be used to power your car.

o It is safer than gasoline, will give you better

mileage

o It will increase the amount of energy derived

from biomass in comparison to ethanol—by

24–42%.

o We could mitigate CO2 emissions quickly by

doing something that is applicable to every

gasoline-consuming car already on the road.

Reasons for not going for fuel butanol earlier:

o The A B E fermentation process yields only 1.3 gallons of

butanol/bushel of corn, whereas yeast fermentation produces 2.52

gallons of ethanol/bushel of corn.

• Its low final concentration (0.6%) compares poorly with that of

ethanol from yeast fermentation (10–15%); the 1–2% alcohol

concentration in the A B E- fermentation combination is sufficient

to kill the fermenting bacteria.

• Butanol’s boiling point (117°C) is higher even than that of water. At

the 1–2% final batch concentration, there is a lot of water to boil

off, which is expensive..

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Production breakthrough reported

• Environmental Energy, Inc.(EEI), an Ohio

company led by David E. Ramey, reported on its

website www.butanol.com a breakthrough _yields

of 2.5 gallons of butanol per bushel of corn.”.

• It has developed a process which makes

―fermentation-derived butanol more

economically viable and competitive with

current petrochemical processes and with the

production of ethanol.‖

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David E. Ramey: ―How could butanol yield be increased

and production costs decreased?‖ I solved 3 major

problems with the ABE process by:

• increasing the yield of butanol from 1.3 gallons/bushel

of corn to 2.5 (thus making it similar to that of ethanol by

yeast fermentation);

• overcoming the problem of the low final concentration

of 1–2% by developing a recovery process that removes

the solvents continuously and precludes accumulation to

a level lethal to the microbe; and

• solving the expensive recovery problem associated with

the high boiling point by sparging carbon dioxide

(produced by the fermentation) through the broth,

stripping the butanol and then letting a gravity process

increase the concentration before removing the

remaining water.

ButylFuel™.

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ButylFuel™.

In his butanol production method, Ramey takes the

approach of using two types of microbes in two

separate process steps. The first pass

optimizes the production of hydrogen and butyric

acid, while the second pass converts this acid into

butanol. Each step utilizes a different Clostridium

strain. The article reported that other processes had

also tried the use of multiple bacteria strains, but

within the same slurry, making Ramey’s separation

approach unique.

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The patent EEI holds is U.S. No. 5,753,474:

―Continuous Two Stage, Dual Path Anaerobic

Fermentation of Butanol and Other Organic

Solvents Using Two Different Strains of Bacteria.‖

Some of the EEI work has been done through a

U.S. Department of Energy research grant, a

collaboration between Ramey and Shang- Tian

Yang, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular

Engineering at Ohio State University.

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New Catalysts to Convert

Ethanol to Butanol Fuels

Submitted by admin on April 23, 2013

by Chris Hanson (Ethanol Producer Magazine)

Researchers from U.K.’s University of Bristol reported

the development of new catalysts that are able to

convert ethanol to butanol at the national meeting

and exposition of the American Chemical Society.

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Duncan Wass, professor at the University of

Bristol …and his group said

the new catalysts are similar to those used

in modern petrochemical technology,

potentially allowing existing ethanol

producers to avoid high retrofitting costs

while allowing for the production of both

ethanol and butanol.

Unlike current technology, Wass said the

new catalysts are more selective and yield

95 percent butanol out of the total products

from each batch in laboratory-scale tests.

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Physical Property i-butanol n-butanol Ethanol

Density at 20°C (g/cm³) 0.802 0.810 0.794

Boiling Point at 1 atm (⁰C) 108 118 78

Water Solubility at 20⁰C (g/100mL water)

8.0 7.7 Miscible

Net Heat of Combustion (BTU/gal) 95,000 93,000 80,000

R+M/2 103.5 87 112

Blend RVP (psi at 100⁰F) 1 5.0 4.3 18-22

Biobutanol Projecting the 3rd

Wave

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Company Bug Bug Strategy

Molecule Fermentation Process

Separation Strategy

Development Status

Gevo Yeast GMO UCLA Valine metabolism

iso-buoh Semi batch vacuum flash in situ removal followed by distillation trains

2010 Operating pilot in St. Johns, MO. 2011 Commercial

Cobalt Biofuels Clostridium Non GMO strain reduced etoh and acetone

n-buoh for blending w/gasoline, diesel, jet

Continuous modified ABE Fermentation

vapor compression distillation

2010 pilot 10-35k gpy 2011 demo 2-5m gpy 2012 commercial

Tetra Vitae Clostridium beijerinckii

Non GMO selected for reduced etoh production

n-buoh and acetone 2:1

Semi batch "AB" Fermentation

Carbon dioxide stripping continuous in situ removal followed by distillation trains

2009 300 liter bench 2010 10,000 liter pilot

Butyl Fuel Clostridiums Aceto & tyro

GMO & mutant strain

n-buoh Continuous two stage dual path anaerobic fermentation

stripping following immobilized cell bioreactors

Unknown

Syngas Biofuels Energy

Fermentation of Syngas

GMO n-buoh Thermochemical catalyst

NA Unknown

Status Butanol Companies

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Many unknowns remain for the future of butanol.

Certainly the work of BP and DuPont and of

Environmental Energy, Inc. - and any others who enter

the butanol efforts - will be observed with interest.

Will butanol production reach a cost effective level?

Will it reach commercial scale viability? If these

milestones are achieved, does it compete with or

complement ethanol?

At this point, it’s more questions than answers on the

butanol front. THANK YOU