Isobutanol is a light alcohol produced from natural and petrochemical sources, used as a supplement or substitute for gasoline. It has many industrial uses, including in the production of esters and lacquers. Isobutanol production is growing rapidly in the US due to its higher energy density and non-corrosive properties compared to ethanol.
Isobutanol is an organic compound, a form of light alcohol, produced from natural and petrochemical sources and has many common solvents and some potential fuel uses. It is seen as a supplement or substitute for gasoline, as it is more energy consuming than ethanol and can be produced from cellulose-based agricultural and forestry wastes, such as corn, sugarcane. and wood. Industrial uses of isobutanol include as a chemical intermediate in the production of esters, in the manufacture of textiles, and as a cleaning or polishing compound.
Because isobutanol is miscible with other common solvents such as alcohols, ketones, aldehydes and ethers, it lends itself to many chemical compounds and reactions in industry. However, the chemical’s most common use is in the production of esters as a component of paint coatings such as lacquers. Its unique properties require that it be added only in concentrations of 5% to 10% to lacquer compounds. Other uses include in the production of synthetic rubber, the manufacture of pharmaceuticals, and as a dehydrating agent, as it mixes only partially with water.
While isobutanol is not seen as a method to replace petroleum-based fossil fuels due to the large amount of organic material that would be required to do so, it is seen as a key component of the alternative fuel industry. One advantage that isobutanol has over ethanol is that it can be blended into gasoline at any percentage. This is because it has an energy density and octane rating closer to that of gasoline.
There are several methods of producing isobutanol, including those using petrochemical precursors that are cheaper commercially than biomass production as of 2011. One oil-based method is to run propylene, which is a Colorless, gaseous alkene obtained from petroleum, through a hydroformylation reaction that yields 85% butanol and 15% isobutanol.
Reppe carbonylation, named after Walter Reppe, a famous early 20th century German chemist, is a similar process that involves adding not only hydrogen as occurs in hydroformylation, but also carbon monoxide and a catalyst of iron. It was commonly used to make isobutanol in Japan until the 20th. The Reppe process differed from standard carbonylation in that the butanol alcohol products of the reaction were produced under milder reaction conditions, albeit with more chemical precursors.
As of 2010, approximately 3,000,000 tons of butanol were produced annually for a variety of industrial uses, with a market value of $4,000,000,000 US Dollars (USD). The Isobutanol segment of this market is valued at USD $560,000,000 annually globally. Isobutanol production is growing rapidly in the United States, however, as ethanol plants are converted. Where ethanol contains only about 67% of the energy of an equivalent volume of gasoline, isobutanol contains 82% and is not corrosive to plumbing systems as ethanol can be. A major US producer of isobutanol expects an estimated production capacity of 350,000,000 gallons (1,324,894,120 liters) annually as of 2015.
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