Gold Coast Tire & Auto Butanol Instead of Gasoline

By Michael L Leigh

With the recent rise in oil prices to record levels alternative fuel sources are increasingly in demand. One option would be to switch to butanol produced by biological sources like bacteria using biomass as a fuel. This would mean using a renewable energy fuel source to create fuel used in a large amount of vehicles in existence. As fossil fuels have begun to show energy dependence on an unsustainable fuel can be disastrous for the world economy. However, there are also some downsides to using this alternative fuel.

Using butanol in a combustion engine results in more toxic fumes than gasoline produces. The energy content of gasoline to butanol is around 10:9. This means fuel flow has to be increased around 10% to get the same performance in an engine designed for gasoline. Butanol can be used in most automobiles without conversion though if used in low ratio mixtures with gasoline. Simple conversions will allow it to run pure though. More specifically increasing the fuel flow rate and adjusting the gasoline gauge to show the correct levels.

It is almost like a trade off between environmental impact at the start of production (gasoline) or when the final product is consumed (butanol). The benefits of a renewable fuel have to be weighed against more environmental damage and modification of some automobiles. Currently the energy landscape means that gasoline continues to be the best choice but it may not always be this way. Butanol could be a viable alternative energy especially if an exhaust filtration system was created to capture most of the waste byproducts for possible recycling.

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