Martin Saarinen

Drinking and driving don’t mix, but turning booze into fuel is step in right direction

“Scientists are now scaling up the tech to start producing butanol from beer”

THE new year period is a time when many of us enjoy a drink or two, and on Page 14 you will have read all about the recent fall in the number of drivers breath-tested by the police.

Worryingly, the number of drivers giving a positive sample has remained roughly the same, suggesting some motorists may be escaping justice.

While alcohol and the automotive sector are rarely mentioned together in a positive tone, that may change. Scientists at the University of Bristol have concluded that beer is the best alcoholic drink to be converted into alternative fuels for vehicles.

The chemists have spent years perfecting turning beer into butanol, an alternative to ethanol (which is currently used in biofuels), which can power both petrol and diesel engines without any modifications. Butanol is also more energy-dense and less corrosive to the motor than ethanol.

The scientists are now scaling up the tech to start producing butanol from beer. The process could take five years, but may mark an important change in the biofuel sector.

This is very similar to the work of Scottish biotechnical firm, Celtic Renewables, that we reported on in Issue 1,427. It has pioneered a way to turn the billions of litres of waste alcohol from whisky distilleries into bio-butanol (the bio comes from the fact that it’s recycling distilleries’ waste) through clever engineering.

It already has some interest from large investors and is working on a factory to start making bio-buthanol on an industrial scale. Perhaps 2018 will be the year alcohol starts having a positive impact both for drivers and the automotive industry.