The Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC) at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks has entered into a joint development program with Washington-based Syntec Biofuel Inc. to convert a wide variety of biomass and waste into bio-butanol. The core process utilizes Syntec's catalyst technology in conjunction with an upgrading process exclusively licensed from the EERC Foundation.
Butanol has a high purity and energy level and can be used in a variety of ways, including as a fuel in internal combustion engines. Because its hydrocarbon chain is twice that of ethanol, it is more similar to gasoline than it is to ethanol and thus constitutes a superior fuel. Bio-butanol is also used as a solvent for a wide variety of chemical and textile processes, as a chemical intermediate for organic synthesis, as a base for perfumes and paint thinners, and as a solvent in other coating applications.
Syntec is a Washington State corporation based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The company has developed a thermochemical process that breaks down sustainable, low-cost wood and agricultural waste into reactive components that form with Syntec's patent-pending catalysts to produce ethanol, methanol, propanol, and butanol.
Source: EERC press release
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