xcel
11-02-2008, 06:49 PM
A startup has raised $25 million for inexpensively producing biofuel. (http://www.technologyreview.com/business/21602/page1/)
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/Honda_Powered_IRL_on_Ethanol.jpgKevin Bullis – Technology Review – Oct. 27, 2008
National Guard sponsored and Honda Powered IRL race car in Chicago. Methanol was replaced with Ethanol, not Butonal
No production cost although Butonal has about the same energy content of gasoline/lb :) -- Ed.
Cobalt Biofuels (http://www.cobaltbiofuels.com/news/), a startup based in Mountainview, CA, has developed a cheap way to make butanol from biomass. Last week, the company announced that it had raised $25 million to expand from a small laboratory-scale production to a pilot-scale plant that can produce about 35,000 gallons of fuel per year…
Butanol could help increase the use of biofuels, since it doesn't have the same limitations as ethanol, the primary biofuel made in the United States. It has more energy than ethanol: a gallon of butanol contains about 90 percent as much energy as a gallon of gasoline, while ethanol only has about 70 percent as much. What's more, while ethanol requires special pipelines for shipping, butanol can be shipped in unmodified gasoline pipelines. And butanol can be blended with gasoline in higher percentages than ethanol without requiring modifications to engines… http://www.technologyreview.com/business/21602/page1/
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/Honda_Powered_IRL_on_Ethanol.jpgKevin Bullis – Technology Review – Oct. 27, 2008
National Guard sponsored and Honda Powered IRL race car in Chicago. Methanol was replaced with Ethanol, not Butonal
No production cost although Butonal has about the same energy content of gasoline/lb :) -- Ed.
Cobalt Biofuels (http://www.cobaltbiofuels.com/news/), a startup based in Mountainview, CA, has developed a cheap way to make butanol from biomass. Last week, the company announced that it had raised $25 million to expand from a small laboratory-scale production to a pilot-scale plant that can produce about 35,000 gallons of fuel per year…
Butanol could help increase the use of biofuels, since it doesn't have the same limitations as ethanol, the primary biofuel made in the United States. It has more energy than ethanol: a gallon of butanol contains about 90 percent as much energy as a gallon of gasoline, while ethanol only has about 70 percent as much. What's more, while ethanol requires special pipelines for shipping, butanol can be shipped in unmodified gasoline pipelines. And butanol can be blended with gasoline in higher percentages than ethanol without requiring modifications to engines… http://www.technologyreview.com/business/21602/page1/