Biobutanol Production from Biomass

Due to acclivitous costs of fossil fuel energy sources, renewable energy sources and biofuels have gained importance. Butanol as fuel or blending component has some advantages compared to ethanol. For example a lower vapour pressure and higher energy density. The production of butanol in a microbial fermentation was first reported by Pasteur in 1861. Butanol (C₄H₉OH), also called as butyl alcohol, or biobutanol ifproducedfrom biomass, has four structuralisomers with the common names of n-butanol, iso-butanol, secbutanol, and tert-butanol. Chemical and physical properties such as boiling point, octane number, and viscosity of butanol can vary between different isomers, but the main applications in use as solvents, industrial cleaners, or biofuels are the same for all isomers. Unlike the blending of ethanol with petrol and diesel, blending of butanol is possible in higher concentrations with petrol and diesel, without any vehicle retrofitting. By which the share of renewable components in the final fuel mixture could be increased. Wastes from biomass, agro residues, and food industries can be excellent substrates for fermentative fuel production. Plant biomass is the only sustainable source for production of liquid transportation fuels. The key obstacle to take advantage of this feedstock is a lack of a proven economic technology, and the high capital cost relative to biofuels due to the smaller scale of biomass processing. The techno-economic potential of woody biomass improves when integrated within an existing industry to minimize biomass feedstock cost and maximize supply. In such a lignocellulosic biorefinery the biomass processing costs are also reduced due to integration with existing infrastructure such as steam/power and water effluent treatment facilities. The economics of butanol production is affected by the type of bioreactor used, the butanol recovery technique, byproduct credit, yield, solvent concentration, and product.