A substance previously used as a solvent may be the key to biofuel production that has been sought so anxiously by researchers for years. This discovery was introduced at a symposium on alternative fuel research at a recent meeting of the American Chemical Society, held each year to present new technologies and advancements that can support biofuel production in a sustainable way. Read more about Biomass to Biofuels Market Potential

Engineers from the Ohio State University department of chemical and biomolecular engineering announced the results of studies that were conducted over the past few years that have focused on increasing the potential of biofuel production of a particular chemical used as both a solvent and as a supportive substance in the production of other chemicals. Their discovery of a technique that derives more of the substance from the manufacturing process will double the biofuel production capability for the substance, according to a professor of engineering at Ohio State.

The substance in question is known as butanol. Butanol is being considered as a viable alternative to gasoline as a fuel source for automobiles. However, the difficulty in deriving sufficient amounts from the manufacturing process of butanol for biofuel production has presented a problem with the cost-efficiency of such a process. Cost-efficiency has been one of the biggest issues raised in biofuel production, and has been a roadblock for many alternative fuel researchers, such as those involved in the production of ethanol.

The biofuel production process involving butanol consists of a fermentation technique that uses bacteria as a growth medium when mixed with water in a fermentation vat. Previously, the maximum amount of butanol that could be rendered from this biofuel production technique was 15 grams per gallon of water. At that point, the environment of the vat would become too toxic for the survival of the bacteria. This amount was considered as cost-prohibitive for mass biofuel production needs.

The engineers from Ohio State developed a biofuel production process that used a new strain of bacteria known as Clostridium beijerinckii. These bacteria were able to produce up to 30 grams of butanol when combined with polyester fiber bundles in a bioreactor. These increase in butanol processing capability is seen as a substantial advancement in the potential of using butanol as a viable alternative to gasoline in biofuel production.

This discovery has added credence to the claims of many researchers of biofuel production that butanol is a more practical substance to be considered as an alternative fuel source, due to lower biofuel production costs associated with butanol as well as the potential for butanol to produce more energy overall than other substances, such as ethanol. These factors, together with an increasingly vocal demand for petroleum alternatives, has placed butanol near the top of the list for biofuel production research.

The recovery and purification of butanol in current biofuel production methods accounts for nearly 40 percent of the production cost overall, according to the Ohio State engineers, bringing the price of one gallon of butanol to $3.00. The discovery of the new strain of bacteria and its use in the butanol process will substantially lower the cost of biofuel production for this substance, which will be reflected in overall biofuel production of butanol.