bButanol Article Summary Since 2005, the year the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) set new standards for renewable fuels; ethanol has been being mixed into gasoline in the U.S. Ethanol is a product of corn and is a cleaner, more efficient alternative to traditional fossil fuels. In a New York Times article titled, “Corn Ethanol Makers Weigh Switch to Butanol,” by Henry Fountain, it has been indicated that the general mentality in the “Corn Belt,” a cluster of Midwestern states, has slightly shifted. With the scarcity of gasoline increasing as its being depleted quickly, gasoline/ethanol refineries are strongly considering the switch to mixing gasoline with butanol rather than ethanol. Butanol, which is also known as butyl alcohol, is being recognized as an overall better alternative source of energy when made into biobutanol. Biobutanol, which uses biomass and butanol, contains more energy than ethanol, is easier to handle, and can be blended with gasoline in larger amounts per gallon. Today, ethanol is being mixed at a standardized rate of 10%. Biobutanol is recommended to be mixed at 16% of the volume per gallon of gasoline. Biobutanol also contains 30% more energy than ethanol. Obviously, taking those two factors into consideration, efficiency is increased while also burning less gasoline, which is scarce and harmful to the environment. Another positive side to making the switch from ethanol to biobutanol is taking into account the cost of maintenance of each biofuel. Ethanol evaporates relatively easily, meaning refiners have to remove lighter components of the product to meet air-quality standards. However, butanol doesn’t evaporate easily, so most of those lighter components can be left in, saving money by not going through the process of removing potentially hazardous chemicals. In terms of being a better biofuel, biobutanol is undisputedly better source of alternative energy than ethanol or any other biofuel there is to offer in the short term. Aside from the chemical advantages of biobutanol, a major reason for certain companies wanting to switch is because of how well biobutanol would fit into the current infrastructure. With gas prices sky-rocketing and human energy consumption taking its toll on our environment, people are now seeing using alternative energy sources as necessary and inevitable. Biobutanol would be the perfect next step to further delve into using more alternative energy. Several different spokespeople for these ethanol/biofuel companies and organizations, such as Gevo, Highwater, and the Advanced Biofuel Association, have openly stated the convenience of using biobutanol. The biggest obstacle to overcome in order to use new energy is the cost of making the necessary technology and establishing a new system to provide the energy to society on a massive scale. With biobutanol, this problem is drastically reduced. Biobutanol can be produced in the same production plants that currently produce ethanol; only slight renovation would be needed. A lot of companies are reluctant due to one drawback which would be that the plant would be shut down for about two weeks under construction and the plant’s capacity would be reduced by about 20%. However, due to the greater value of butanol, the increased margins for the companies would more than make up for those losses. Several companies located in the “Corn Belt” have been pushing for the change, realizing biobutanol’s greater efficiency, value, and cleanliness. Taking Biology 101 gave me a better understanding of the process of fermentation, which is a key term in discussing this topic, since that is a major process that needs to happen in the production of biobutanol. I chose the topic of biofuels because I have a personal interest and concern for alternative energy and its importance and relevance to our society. When choosing a more specific topic under biofuels, I chose biobutanol because it is the most likely to be adopted in the near future in the U.S. Generally, what I found fascinating about the approach to alternative energy in our society is our reluctance to it. Studying science over the years has opened up my awareness to the countless different sources of energy we have available to us and that we could harness. When asking why we haven’t yet adopted those options, the answer I got the majority of the time was that it was too expensive. Now that I am little older and wonder about things like this more often and think about the fact that we still heavily use fossil fuels, I get very irritated and see the ridiculousness of the problem. As a society, we prioritize money which has no intrinsic value and whose value we simply give ourselves, over energy, which is a necessity in the progression of humanity and our lifestyle. People still pay ludicrous prices to fill their car with gas when there are alternatives like solar, geothermal, wind, hydro, nuclear fusion and other forms of energy that we use on a small scale that are enormously more efficient, but don’t mass produce because of the financial drawbacks for big energy companies. Even with the minor economic drawbacks biobutanol would cause in the short term, companies are reluctant. Even though biobutanol is a relatively minor step in the progression of energy use for humans, I find it a fascinating one because of the doors it may open in the future, hopefully making for a better and more advanced future.