Go green - Think whisky

Using samples from the Glenkinchie Distillery, a producer of a popular Scotch single malt whisky, researchers from Edinburgh Napier University have produced butanol, which gives 30 percent more power output than ethanol. The butanol is produced using “pot ale”, the leftover fluid from the copper stills, and “draff”, the used grains.

The whisky industry, which draws in over $5 billion a year, produces bountiful amounts of both waste products each year. The scientists behind the innovation say that there is high potential for the new biofuel, which will hopefully be available in gas stations alongside regular gasoline soon.

The team developed their process by adapting a 100-year-old procedure used to produce butanol and acetone by fermenting sugar. They have now filed for a patent for their new method, and plan to create their own company to market their product.

But is this creative invention going to help the world’s fuel market? SMU professor Santanu Roy doesn’t think so. Roy, who specializes in the economics of natural resources and the environment, says that this solution is too localized to have a large impact.

“The scale of whisky production is a small thing. I’m sure there is a huge amount of waste created, but it is not a universal practice,” Roy said. Roy says that because whisky production is not a universal practice researchers probably won’t put forth a lot of effort to make the technology efficient. He says that because corn and other crops used to produce ethanol are produced worldwide, researchers are interested in commercializing the technology.

“Another thing that struck me about this type of biofuel is that no one is talking about the cost. It may be very viable, but it is also most likely very costly,” said Roy, who notes that this is true with all types of bioefuels. “It’s very often the case that the producers get some kind of subsidy, so they can produce it in a commercial manner. Without the subsidy, it would be much too expensive.”

In an interview with Professor Martin Tangney, the researcher who directed the project, said that using whisky waste products was more sustainable than growing crops in order to produce biofuel. He also said that it could help the European Union reach its target to have biofuels account for 10 percent of total fuel sales by the year 2020.

While Roy agrees that it is more sustainable, he says that the scientific community must balance environmental concern with cost of production and the ability to commercialize the product on a world wide scale. Neither of which, he says, applies to the whisky biofuel.

“Right now the markets are saying that this is just too expensive. We need to see if there is a cheaper way to do this,” Roy said. “That’s the challenge, and that hasn’t happened yet.”