Regular, Premium Or Single-Malt?
No, it’s not a Mel Gibson joke… Scientists at Edinburgh Napier University have developed a formula for making butanol biofuel out of byproducts of the Scottish whiskey industry, reports Sky News. Apparently researchers
combined so-called pot ale – the liquid from the copper stills distillery equipment – and the spent grains used to make whisky, also known as draff
to create Butanol, an ethanol-like biofuel. Unlike the corn juice, however, Butanol can run in any gas-powered engine and does not degrade components over time.
Scotland’s whiskey industry produces 1,600 million liters of pot ale and 187,000 tons of draff, but scientists aren’t revealing how much of each ingredient is needed to produce a given amount of biofuel. Though it’s clear that the Scotch butanol won’t take over the world (barring some kind of brilliant cross-marketing scheme), it’s a solid, pragmatic local energy solution. The Scots can enjoy reduced-guilt internal combustion transportation, the rest of the world can enjoy their delicious local beverage, and some very lucky draff gets to become an ingredient in two of life’s greatest pleasures. What more could anyone ask for?
More by Edward Niedermeyer
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Maybe if the whole world switched from drinking coffee to drinking scotch? No? Damn.
Holy Old News Batman! Butanol has been around for, well, forever, in terms of altfuel.
This story reminds me of the Scotsman seeing his first baseball game and his remarks upon hearing that a batter had 4 balls. Paraphrasing here... Does your sportscar really run on scotch? Run? It runs with pride, man, it runs with pride!