Butanol has been established as one of the better options for transport vehicle fuels. Butanol is not soluble in water and also has more energy content compared to ethanol.

The popular choice as raw material to make butanol are cane sugar and starch but experts at Aalto University made use of lignocellulose or more commonly known as wood biomass. This source can be considered as a better choice as it does not compete with human food needs and production.

Wood biomass consists of lignin, hemicellulose, and cellulose as its basic substances. The first two substances are good sources of nutrition for the microbes and therefore bioprocessing is highly probable. When the biomass of wood is boiled in a mixture of sulphur dioxide, alcohol, and water, the substances of wood are separated. The cellulose portion can be used for paper, other products can be crafted from the non-cellulose part, and the hemicellulose is a good raw material for microbes to produce other chemicals.

By 2020, the European Union requires that all fuel should have 10% biofuel component. Butanol can be added to transportation fuel that we use today without the need to do a lot of modification to the ordinary combustion engine. The 20% butanol blend of fuel results to lower harmful emissions compared to ordinary fossil fuel.

Comparing the use of butanol with ethanol, the latter’s blend of fuel results to higher level of odor nuisances in the air. Experts look into the use of butanol in combo with a pulp plant in the biorefinery setup to improve energy use and production of biofuel.

The current project in the university in Finland is to improve the refining value of residues which normally cannot be further utilized.

Under the agreement, the two companies will be working hand in hand to deploy the technology of Cobalt which helps convert bagasse from sugar cane into n-butanol which can be used for fuels and chemicals. The initial options of the joint venture is to try the technology in sugar mills. After the initial phase of the project, Cobalt Technologies and partner company Rhodia will build a demonstration plant in Brazil to promote the technology. After the first site, the companies are looking into building several refineries located within sugar mills in Brazil and then move forward to other countries in the Latin America.

Cobalt Technologies sees the collaboration with Rhodia as a big opportunity to display their technology. They also see Rhodia as an ideal partner for this endeavor since Rhodia has a proven track record in operating in countries like Brazil. The latter also has a vast experience operating a power plant using bagasse from sugar cane. The international credibility of Rhodia is also beneficial for Coballt Technologies which aim to promote the technology across different countries in South America.

Rhodia, on the opposite end of the discussion table, sees the partnership as beneficial since the use of n-butanol from bagasse fits their development strategy.

There is an estimated $5 billion market for n-butanol which is widely used chemical found in surface coatings, lacquers, and paints. The market of n-butanol e is about eight times bigger than that for isobutanol.

The technology of Cobalt will give way to a low cost system that will further push n-butanol to the synthetic rubber and plastics market, plus its use for making jet fuel.

The priority of the company is to increase the ethanol production with investments of around $1.9 billion. In collaboration with their partners, the company is looking to produce around 1.5 billion gallons in 2015 which is about 12% of the market. The company will be the top producer in the domestic market if they reach this goal.

Petrobras will use 70% of the investments in the ethanol segment to make new ethanol, construct plants, put up distilleries, and renewal of the plantation. The investments will be done with partners like Nova Fronteira, Total Agroindustria Canavieira, and Guarani.

On the biodiesel segment, the company is looking to maintain its domestic share of around 25% of the market thru their $00 million of investments. Petrobras has about 5 plants today with biodiesel volume expected to hit 700 million every year.

The $300 million that will be poured into research will be used primarily to develop second gen ethanol for industrial production.

Based on the European Commission’s report that was made public just last week, the various alternatives to fuel have increased its potentials to successfully replace the fuel made from fossil sources that are decreasing by the minute. This translates that transportation might rely on these fuel alternatives that could sustain us by year 2050. Moreover, this adds that by year 2050, we could be looking at transportations means that are free from oil use and CO2 emissions. This is because we need to reduce the CO2 emission’s effects on the environment and address the looming problems of energy supply.

Groups remain enthusiastic that the combined technology of biofuels and lithium-on batteries or fuel cells could replace the oil made from fossils. These two remain as our main options to alternative fuels. Other options include the use of LPG, biomethane, natural gas, and other synthetic fuels.

Later this year, the initiative on these alternative fuels will be released back-to-back with revised policies made by the Commission. The group aims to come up with long-term plans that would successfully meet the energy demands of the transport system with various fuel alternatives that can sustain us by year 2050.

The panel takes into consideration that different mode of transportation requires different types of alternative fuel in terms of amount and power. The alternative fuel’s compatibility with the current infrastructure is also taken into consideration. Based on the reports, the only way to lower or even emit the CO2 emissions caused by transportation is to use alternative fuel.

The first of these cars were supposed to be on sale and on the streets in the first quarter of the year 2011. However, production has been moving real fast at the manufacturing plant of Think North America and they plan to roll out the first electric car a little after Thanksgiving. This is the very first time that electric cars have been able to get out of the Europe niche and step on to the North American soil.

The assembly space for the Think North America cars have been set up in a huge space that runs into thousands of square feet. This is going to be used for the assembly process with the best of facilities available under one roof.

The first cars to be to be rolled out are going to be 220 small cars that are going to be in the favorite colors of red, black and blue. The next stage of this plan is to make it in such a way that workers move from one car to another. This system is going to change and become more mechanized so as to be able to produce more cars.

Keeping all of this in mind, Think has decided to launch 300 new cars this year. This is what was conveyed by Brendan Prebo the spokesperson for the company. However, by the year 2011, they expect this figure to reach as much as 2,000 to 3,000 new electric run cars.

According to ET Automotive, this is going to be a great employment opportunity generated with several people being able to get themselves on to the payroll. The Think plant expects to be functioning full steam by the year 2013 and have 400 people on its rolls.

These cars are going to be rolled out according to specific regions. They will start with California and go on to the other states. Although this is just the beginning as more and more of these cars are going to be seen in the market. There are several hybrid cars that are in the making as well. This could be the kind that has electric power and can be operated using larger batteries as well. Manufacturers are designing new age cars to keep up with the demand from their customers. There are actually 27 hybrid cars in the market at the moment such as the BMW 7 series, the Mercedes S class, the Toyota Prius and Lexus LS.

German car makers are in the fore front of the making of hybrid cars and those with diesel ruining capacity so as to harm the environment as less as possible. So if you want to respect our environment, you should definitely buy one of these modern hybrid cars. To cut the costs you could purchase it in Germany yourself, but you’ll still need a good car insurance policy in your hometown!

The options when it comes to hybrid vans is that there aren’t any. There are currently no hybrid vans available on the market. One would have thought that vans would have been amongst the first vehicles to receive a hybrid engine since they tend to use the most fuel of any passenger vehicle. This is especially true of the minivan which is used almost exclusively by families. Minivans owners are the kind of people who are usually most sensitive to the price of fuel. It is strange that the manufacturers have not chosen to put a hybrid in a van.

The fact that there are no hybrid vans is made doubly strange by the fact that there are so many hybrid SUV’s. Vans and SUV’s normally have the same chassis and drive train it is usually just the body that is different. The fact that there are so many hybrid SUV’s available and no vans is hard to understand. If they are already building SUV’s with hybrid engines it is quite an easy matter for them to build vans with them as well.

Hybrid vans don’t appear to be too likely to appear on the market anytime soon as a van leasing option. The Toyota Estima is a hybrid van that the company has sold in Japan for a few years now. There is pressure on the company to make the van available in the United States but this seems unlikely to happen. There is a petition going around in an attempt to get Toyota to make the van available. In fact the opposite has happened and the van is no longer being sold in Japan. The reason for this isn’t clear but it isn’t a good sign for the hybrid van market. The only other hybrid van likely to come to market in the near future is a hybrid version of the Mercedes Sprinter. Mercedes are currently testing a hybrid version but when or if it comes to market remains to be seen.

The lack of a hybrid van on the market is hard to explain. There is clearly a demand for it as shown by the petition to have the Estima made available in the US. And it should be fairly easy for the manufacturers to build one since vans share much in common with SUV’s, of which there are many hybrids on the market. The only way a hybrid van is likely to come on the market is if it is made clear to the manufacturers that there is an overwhelming demand for them.

The first EV to catch the spotlight will be the NXR. Reva describes this as a car capable of carrying 4 persons but a lot doubt it since the dimensions seems to be small to achieve this.

Next in line will be the NXG, a two-seat EV that is scheduled to debut by next year. The NXR will roll off the market by 2010.

The rest of the car industry is more interested in what Reva calls REVive system. This technology aims to alleviate the range anxiety which is a big issue in the acceptance of EVs in any market. How REVive work is not yet clear but according to sources it will be a remote charging system.

EV owners will only have to call or send an SMS to REVive to remotely recharge their vehicles in case they run out of power while on the road. How the telematics technology will work its magic is not yet clear but it will be a feature of the NXR and the NXG.

Reva has yet to announce the pricing scheme for the cars and the REVive. This might be done during the Frankfurt Auto Show.

Some types of fuel cells are more efficient than others, and fortunately one of the most promising kinds to be used in the future for cars, is one of the most efficient. The hydrogen fuel cell works at about 50% efficiency and that means that half of the hydrogen added will be converted to electrical energy. The other half is released as heat and neither of those products damages the environment. Cars that will use hydrogen fuel cells in the future will have no negative impact on the environment and therefore can be driven without feeling guilty.

Cars that use fuel cells also do not deplete any of our limited resources, such as oil. There is plenty of hydrogen available to make fuel with, but the process to extract hydrogen is not yet refined enough that it will be a low cost alternative. However, hydrogen is sustainable and available and that saves our environment from future drilling to find more oil. Hydrogen also burns cleanly and cars that use fuel cells have zero emissions, therefore releasing no pollutants.

More on Hydrogen cars in a post we did about a year ago!

The i10 Electric is expected to be sale in Korea by 2010 and is powered by a 49kW electric motor depending on a 16kWh battery. This EV can go on a single charge for 99 miles and has a highway friendly speed of 81mph.

The i10 Electric will have a limited run with the first units going to government agencies, utility firms, and state corporations. Sales to the public will eventually come but the details and date have not yet been revealed by Hyundai.

The other vehicle which will be on spotlight will be the Hyundai ix-Metro which is a hybrid concept. The car will have an impressive 80g/km of carbon dioxide emission and is aiming for the sub-B segment of the European market. The vehicle will be powered by a three-cylinder engine with 1.3L displacement. The hybrid power plant will be coupled with a dual clutch six-speed gearbox. The ix-Metro was designed by another Korean based firm Global Design Team.

Hyundai will also feature other high technology vehicles during the auto show in Frankfurt. The list includes the hybrid plug-in Blue Will and the Elantra LPI.

It appears Hyundai is moving quick with the hybrid and EV technology. There maybe a clear cut plan how they want to perform in the advanced vehicle segment.