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What are alternatives to ethanol? Butanol allows cars to travel greater distances and improves engine performance. Both DuPont and BP are active advocates for the development of biofuels. On the 21st, these two companies announced that they had successfully developed a new type of biofuel – butanol. It is said that the energy density of butanol is 30% higher than that of ethanol. DuPont’s CEO, Charles Holliday, said, “Using butanol as a fuel yields better performance and also saves more energy.” ”Since 2003, DuPont and BP have been collaborating on the development of new fuels. These two companies plan to introduce this new generation of butanol fuel in the UK first in 2007. The second-generation butanol fuel may also be developed by 2010. When oil prices were only 30–40 dollars per barrel, DuPont and BP set out to find alternative fuels to gasoline. In the UK, partners will extract fermented sugar from beets and convert it into this new type of fuel. This method is similar to the production of ethanol fuel. Biomass fuels currently account for only 2% of total fuel consumption. Some agencies predict that this proportion is expected to reach 30% by 2020. DuPont and BP estimate that by 2020 as well, global demand for biofuels will reach 87 billion gallons. (The current demand is 110 billion gallons.) According to DuPont, a significant advantage of butanol fuel is that it is possible to use butanol at almost 100% concentration without any modifications to the vehicles. Under the same conditions, to use high-concentration ethanol as fuel, the vehicle requires essential modifications. Ron Pernick from Clean Edge, a company focused on the research and promotion of cleaning technologies, is also a partner in this research. He said, “If this fuel can generate sufficient kinetic energy as envisioned, and without the need to modify the vehicle, its prospects would be very optimistic.” But I don’t think it’s necessary to give up using ethanol just because of this. The era of using a single fuel source is coming to an end, giving way to a world with multiple fuel sources coexisting. ”The market will determine who the winner is. DuPont states that butanol can effectively mix gasoline and ethanol. This type of energy can also be used in existing pipeline transportation facilities. New butanol is a four-carbon alcohol, whereas ethanol is a two-carbon alcohol. Thomas Connelly, who leads technical innovation at DuPont, explained that butanol has a better ability to adapt to humidity and low water vapor pressures. In fact, butanol has been used as a fuel for a long time; it’s just that its production cost has always been higher than that of gasoline. DuPont and BP believe that using plant sugars as raw materials to produce butanol can effectively reduce costs. Meanwhile, DuPont and BP also need to refine this butanol production technology further. Thomas Connel said that efforts are currently being made to break down starch, as this substance allows for more efficient fermentation. BP and DuPont have not disclosed the funding details for this butanol project. But in the words of DuPont’s CEO Charles Houiday, “Investing capital is more like software development than building a chemical plant.” ”Ron Pernick said it’s a fact that butanol is more efficient than ethanol. But it did not eliminate the appeal of ethanol. Saab has launched a new car that uses ethanol. At the same time, this vehicle can travel farther than models with gasoline engines. There is still much to discuss regarding efficient ethanol.