Butanol

The future has always seemed to include biofuels. From fighting oil sheikhs to carbon dioxide - - they seemed the way to go as the fuel to replace gasoline. We in the United States have viewed biofuels from mainly one source - - ethanol. But it was not magic bullet and maybe even not the silver BB, with more questions than answers - - less BTU per gallon than gasoline and many other fuels; tends to absorb a huge amount of water after it took in a huge amount of water in the corn-based production process; and corrosive to the pipelines that typically distribute gasoline.

Ethanol as a solution - - only if you force people to use it with mandatory blending requirements or make it cheap. And because of the corn-based production process, don't forget the fuel versus fuel issues.

What about other alcohols - - like butanol. Butanol has two additional carbon atoms versus ethanol. This gives butanol more energy for a given mass and makes it more alkane-like in its properties; nor does it absorb water as readily as ethanol.

Several companies (Codexis, Amyris, Solazyme, and Gevo) are working on the next generation of biofuels -- where butanol might be an economic consideration. Genetically engineered bacteria and enzymes; synthetic biology; large scale production plants; and different (i.e., not corn) feedstocks.

Electric cars are still probably be the future of individual transportation. Turning crops and plant life into electricity versus fuel for transportation would propel America's cars 80% farther and reduce greenhouse emissions even more (especially if we concentrate on raising the efficiency of power plants). Electrons are easy to transport and burning uses all of the fuel of a plant - - including that stored in the lignin which current processing methods find hard to deal with. Aviation is another matter - - no electric airplanes are in the future. Biofuels are the only game in town.