Butanol is a four-carbon alcohol with chemical formula C4H10O. There are four possible isomers for this molecule: n-butanol, isobutanol, tert-butanol and sec-butanol. Their different structures have a straight impact on their physical and chemical properties.<\/p>\n
Figure 1. Isomers of butanol<\/p>\n
Biobutanol is commonly used to refer to the butanol produced from biomass. n-Butanol is the major natural product formed in ABE fermentation. Isobutanol can be produced in alcoholic fermentation. sec-Butanol cannot be directly obtained by fermentation although it can be generated via 2,3-butanediol from fermentative processes. tert-Butanol is not produced by any known biological route. For the purposes of this post, biobutanol will stand for n-butanol, isobutanol or both of them, depending on the case.<\/p>\n
Butanol formation through anaerobic bacteria fermentation was already observed by Pasteur in 1861 and, during the first decades of the past century, ABE fermentative process was widely utilized to obtain it. However, it began to experience a decline by the 1960\u00b4s and, since that time, most butanol is produced commercially from fossil fuels. Cost issues, relatively low-yield and infections, among other causes, meant that fermentation could not compete on a commercial scale.<\/p>\n
Currently, there is increasing interest in the biobased processes to generate this platform molecule. On the one hand, it represents an attractive alternative to current biofuels. In fact, cellulosic biobutanol is considered as the advanced biofuel of the future for oil industrial experts. On the other hand, it is a versatile chemical building block with a plenty of applications in different markets.<\/p>\n
Process technologies and feedstocks 1,2,8,9,10,11,12,13,14<\/p>\n
As it was mentioned before, biobutanol was traditionally obtained by the ABE process that produces acetone, n-butanol and ethanol from carbohydrates such as starch and glucose using strains of bacteria from the class Clostridia. At present, several players involved in the biobutanol production are developing modifications of the original ABE process. For instance, working with non-GMO Clostridium strains that naturally favor the production of n-butanol without acetone or ethanol (Optinol), focusing on metabolic engineering of the Clostridium strains to optimize the yield of n-butanol (Green Biologics) or even using quorum sensing peptides to control n-butanol production (Butrolix).<\/p>\n
Other companies have created their own proprietary yeasts to convert fermentable sugars into isobutanol through synthetic biology. Gevo\u2019s proprietary integrated fermentation technology platform (GIFT\u00ae) uses genetically modified Escherichia coli and Butamax technology is based on engineered Pseudomonas.<\/p>\n
Other production processes under development to obtain biobutanol:<\/p>\n
Photobiological production from carbon dioxide and water employing cyanobacteria. Phytonix owns a worldwide license and sublicensing rights for this technology.
\nCatalytic condensation of bioethanol to produce biobutanol through the Guerbet reaction. Abengoa has developed and patented a catalyst that enables the manufacture of biobutanol by this method.<\/p>\n
Biobutanol can be produced from sugar\/starch feedstocks (corn, sugar cane, sugar beet,\u2026). However, lignocellulosic feedstocks are now catching the eye of many research institutes and companies as an alternative feedstock for biobutanol production owing to the bene\ufb01ts it possesses. In this sense, the partnership of ButaNexT project (EU Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under grant agreement n\u00b0 640462) is working on maximising the biobutanol conversion yields from selected lignocellulosic feedstocks such as wheat straw, miscanthus and the organic fraction of MSW.<\/p>\n
Applications 2,3,5,7,14<\/p>\n
Advanced biofuel<\/p>\n
Conventional bioethanol exhibits a number of limitations relating to their sustainability, high production costs, performance properties and incompatibility with existing infrastructures. Biobutanol, based on sustainable feedstocks and highly efficient production processes, owns the potential to overcome these limitations. The following are some significant advantages of biobutanol over bioethanol:<\/p>\n
Ability of being used directly in the current design of internal combustion engines without any modifications.
\nCan be mixed with conventional gasoline in a higher proportion than bioethanol.
\nCan be transported in the existing pipeline infrastructure.
\nEnergy content more similar to that of the gasoline.<\/p>\n
Moreover, if biobutanol is produced from sustainable feedstocks, GHG emissions can be reduced without adversely affecting the environment or the alimentary chain. The conversion of sustainable feedstock into fuel remains technologically challenging. Current fermentation techniques suffer from low butanol yields and the subsequent distillation required is the most energy intensive step in the entire production process. Despite these barriers, biobutanol have the potential to replace gasoline and diesel.<\/p>\n
Biobased chemical building block<\/p>\n
Even though the properties of butanol isomers are different, the applications are similar in some aspects. Below, a summary of the main uses of n-butanol and isobutanol.<\/p>\n
n-butanol<\/p>\n
Chemical intermediate for jet fuel and bio-lube oil.
\nChemical intermediate in the production of monomers, polymeric emulsions, esters, plasticizers, glycol ethers and amines.
\nSolvent for paints, coatings and varnishes.
\nExtractant for antibiotics, hormones and vitamins.
\nPerfume and cosmetics ingredient.
\nDegreasers and cleaning solutions.<\/p>\n
Isobutanol<\/p>\n
Chemical intermediate in the production of jet fuel.
\nKey component in polymer intermediates.
\nSolvent for surface coatings and adhesives.
\nInk ingredient.
\nFlotation agent.
\nPolish and paint cleaner additive.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Mehr Infos im Link<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Butanol is a four-carbon alcohol with chemical formula C4H10O. There are four possible isomers for this molecule: n-butanol, isobutanol, tert-butanol and sec-butanol. Their different structures have a straight impact on their physical and chemical properties. Figure 1. Isomers of butanol Biobutanol is commonly used to refer to the butanol produced from biomass. n-Butanol is the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","nova_meta_subtitle":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5572],"tags":[5842,12584],"supplier":[],"class_list":["post-42461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bio-based","tag-biomass","tag-biorefineries"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/58"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42461"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42461\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42461"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=42461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}