Science & Technology

World's first whisky-based car fuel invented

By T.K. Randall
July 7, 2017

Image: The City of Edinburgh
Credit: Mike McBey / CC BY 2.0 (adapted) Known as biobutanol, the new fuel is designed to work as a direct replacement to conventional petrol and can even be used in any car without the need for engine modification.

It is made using draff and pot ale, two substances left behind by the whisky fermentation process."What we developed was a process to combine the liquid with the solid, and used an entirely different traditional fermentation process called ABE, and it makes the chemical called biobutanol," said Celtic Renewables founder and president Prof Martin Tangney.

"And that is a direct replacement, here and now, for petrol."

With nearly 750,000 tonnes of draff and two billion litres of pot ale being produced by the Scottish whisky industry every year, the new fuel could prove to be both clean and cost effective.

Source: BBC News

Tags: Whisky, Fuel