Branson’s Butanol Heads to U.S. to Replace Ethanol: Commodities
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Butanol, the gasoline substitute promoted by billionaire Richard Branson, is headed for its debut at U.S. pumps as soon as next year in a challenge to ethanol’s domination of the $26 billion renewable fuels market.
Like ethanol, the colorless alcohol can be brewed from corn, though it packs more energy when mixed into gasoline. Butamax Advanced Biofuel LLC, funded by DuPont Co. and BP Plc, is retrofitting an ethanol plant in Minnesota to begin making butanol in commercial volumes in 2015. Gevo Inc., backed by French oil producer Total SA and Branson through his Virgin Green Fund, already runs a distillery 60 miles away. Both say they’ve lined up clients for large-scale deliveries.