Improving the sustainability of LC biofuels: ButaNexT as a case study

Biobutanol is an exciting alternative to first generation biofuels due to its physical and chemical characteristics, making it more fuel efficient and suitable for use in spark ignition and diesel engines without the need for modification. However, due to the inefficiencies and costs associated with the current production process, biobutanol is yet to gain market establishment. The ButaNexT project will develop highly efficient production processes for the conversion of sustainable feedstocks into the next generation biobutanol. This will contribute to overcoming the current challenges and limitations exhibited by first generation biofuels. The ButaNexT consortium is a multi-disciplinary team of SMEs, large companies and research centres from Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom. The team aspires to optimise each stage of the biobutanol production value chain: biomass pre-treatment, enzymatic hydrolysis, fermentation, downstream processing and blending. It is expected that ButaNexT will achieve significant reductions in both production costs (up to 50%, to attain price-parity with first generation biofuels) and carbon emissions (up to 85%) compared with fossil fuels (gasoline and diesel). Moreover, the project is working on maximising the biobutanol conversion yields from selected lignocellulosic feedstocks such as wheat straw, miscanthus and the organic fraction of Municipal Solid Waste.