The long sought "philosophers stone" of the biofuel movement is a biofuel developed from waste products. While traditional biofuels require us to sacrifice productive land that could be growing food, waste biofuels are exactly what they sound like: biofuels made from waste like garbage, wood chips, or industry byproducts. The problem with waste biofuel is no one has ever been able to make one that is both scalable and doesn't take more energy to make then it can give back later. Until now.Scientists are now one step closer to achieving both those goals, and it might surprise you to learn that the fuel that might soon be powering your car is the same thing that currently powers your late night dance dance revolution sessions: whiskey.
That's right. Scottish scientists have recently discovered a way to turn two byproducts of the scotch whiskey distillation process into butanol, a fuel that gives off almost 30% more power than traditional biofuels. The best part? Butanol can be used in cars with regular combustion engines with no modifications what-so-ever, meaning it could realistically become a part of our gas mixture as soon as production can be ramped up. The researches from Edinburgh University who developed the process have already applied for a patent and hope to start supplying the country with fuel in the next few years.
To be fair, the stuff you'll be putting in your gas tank won't resemble that nice single malt you have stashed under your bed. Heck, it won't even resemble Dewers. Still, if this technology ends up being scalable, it could give a whole new meaning the the phrase "one for the road."
Image provided by chipgriffin
