The USA has started to introduce copious amounts of Ethanol into our nation’s fuel source. There are many problems with this, the largest being water contamination. Ethanol absorbs water. This means if it is exposed to moisture it will dilute your fuel.
Enter Biogasoline and Biobutanol. Biogasoline is similar to ethanol in the way it is produced, but the outcome is very similar to gasoline. It has almost the exact same energy content per gallon, doesn’t readily mix with water and also has an octane rating in the mid 90s. Biogasoline can be mixed with regular gasoline as well as run straight in pretty much any gasoline engine. Sounds too good to be true? Well, no one knows…at least I don’t. There is very little information on the subject right now. I look forward to seeing more and more of this and less and less ethanol.
Biobutanol is the exact same (chemically) as petrobutanol. Biobutanol is derived from plants instead of fossil fuel. Butanol does not mix with water. As it turns out, almost all gasoline engines can run butanol with no modification. It is very similar to gasoline although does have a slightly lower energy content per gallon – still higher than ethanol however. Butanol can be mixed with gasoline as well.
So, US Government, bring on the REAL bio fuels and stop filling our tanks with ethanol!
**Note**
I actually like ethanol for the most part, it just isn’t a viable solution for all vehicles. Also, in it’s current production here in the US, it is generating less btus than what it takes to produce it – an overall net loss in energy. We need to start using better crops to make ethanol. Ethanol production requires sugar. Corn is not very sugary. We should be using sugar cane or sugar beets.
