Butanol, a 4-carbon alcohol (butyl alcohol), is generally used as an industrial solvent in products such as lacquers and enamels. However, it can also be blended with gasoline and used as a transportation fuel. Butanol is commonly produced using fossil fuels, but it can also be produced from biomass, in which case it is called biobutanol. Biobutanol is produced from the same feedstocks as ethanol—corn, sugar beets, and other types of biomass. Biobutanol is considered a renewable fuel and qualifies under the Renewable Fuel Standard; the category it falls under depends on the feedstock used to produce it.

There are two Clean Air Act provisions that allow blending of up to 12.5% biobutanol with gasoline, and under the Octamix waiver, with human health effects testing, a 16% biobutanol blend is a legal fuel equivalent to E10. Biobutanol has an ASTM D7862 fuel quality standard for blends up to 12.5% with gasoline. It is important to ensure that biobutanol blended with ethanol/gasoline combinations do not result in an oxygen content exceeding the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) limit of 3.7%.



Producing biobutanol via fermentation has been possible since the early 1900s, but it is currently more expensive than producing petrochemicals. Modern butanol is produced almost entirely from petroleum. Renewed interest in biobutanol as a sustainable vehicle fuel has spurred technological advances to ferment it. The first biobutanol plants are retrofits of existing corn ethanol plants. Biobutanol companies produce a range of products—solvents/coatings, plastics, fibers, and transportation fuel—to enhance economic performance through diversification. A challenge for biobutanol is that more ethanol than biobutanol can be produced from a bushel of corn.



  • Higher energy content—Biobutanol's energy density is 10%–20% lower than gasoline's energy density. However, biobutanol's energy content is relatively high among gasoline alternatives; for example, the energy density of ethanol (E100) is 60% lower than that of gasoline.




Research and Development



Companies involved in biobutanol production include DuPont and BP and Gevo.

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