Inventory and comparison of Swedish and international biobutanol projects

About the project

Butanols are four carbon alcohols available in four isomeric forms that mainly find use as solvents or as starting chemicals in lacquers and plastics. Compared to ethanol and methanol, butanols have a higher energy content and better water separating properties and are as well less corrosive. Thereby, the use of butanols as a fuel or fuel blend component is technically more promising than methanol and ethanol.

Corn has been the traditionall feedstock for biobutanol production, but recently (December 2013) also ligno-cellulosic waste has been used as feedstock for ABE fermentation at scale. With respect to the large supply of cellulosic waste materials in Sweden and potential use and benefits from iso- and n-butanols as biofuels/biochemicals, the objective of this project has been to investigate the production and research efforts on biobutanol in Sweden and relate these to corresponding efforts for biobutanol globally.

The outcome of the survey reveals that Sweden has no or little tradition on biobutanol production as well as no focused research in the field. The greatest increase in biobutanol production occurs in China, where commercial production sites for biobutanol based on corn feedstock are in operation. The research regarding butanol fermentation is dominating in the US, Germany and Asia.