Scotland´s famous whisky will soon be fueling something other than people´s thirst as vehicles might start running on whisky-based biofuel.
Edinburgh-based Celtic Renewables has developed a commercial scale method to turn the unwanted residue of the whisky fermentation process into biobutanol capable of powering vehicles, reported Reuters.
The process uses two residues, pot ale and draff, which make up to 90 percent of the distillery output. Scottish distilleries produce around 750,000 tonnes of draff and two billion litres of pot ale every year.
"What we can do is combine these two [residues] together, create a brand new raw material, apply a different fermentation technology and convert the residual good material in here into high-value products and in particular this - biobutanol, an exact replacement for petrol or diesel,” explained Professor Martin Tangney, founder of Celtic Renewables.
Tangney explained the whisky-based biobutanol is a like-for-like substitute of gasoline and diesel, because it has almost the same amount of energy as traditional fuels and no engine modification is necessary. Both of those factors make it a more advantageous fuel than bioethanol, according to the scientist.
Source=PetrolPlaza.com
