I Approve My Tax Dollars to Do That: Build Whiskey-Powered Cars

I had heard about electric cars and hybrids, the occasional solar power van and even cars fueled by biodiesel. But a car that runs on whiskey? That was a new one.

To those appalled at the thought of precious Scottish whiskey being expelled through an exhaust pipe instead of consumed, breath easy: whiskey itself will not be used as the biofuel. Founder of Celtic Renewables Ltd Martin Tangney has uncovered a way to produce biobutanol, the main component of biodiesel, from by the by-products of whisky. Draff, the remnants of grain after fermentation, and pot ale, the residue from the still, are the two main sources of waste from whiskey production. Currently the draff and still are dumped into the sea, recycled into animal feed or used as a form of fertilizer on agricultural fields.

Commenting to Bloomberg, Tangney remarked, “If we can get this right in Scotland, we can adapt it anywhere. India makes whisky, Japan makes whisky, Ireland.  And Cognac uses a similar process. A lot of waste ends up in the sea.”

"Biodiesel is biodegradable as sugar and less toxic than table salt" 

Biofuel cars release significantly fewer carbon dioxide emissions per mile than gasoline-powered, diesel-fueled and even electric cars. Fewer emissions means cleaner air in cities and less environmental repercussions. "Biodiesel is biodegradable as sugar and less toxic than table salt" 

Photo/Quotation credit: http://www.incadventures.com/about/biodieselinfo.htm 

Scotland itself deserves some of the accolade for the motivation behind biofuel innovation and production in the country. Aiming to turn itself into a “renewable energy hub,” it hopes to supply 100 percent of its electricity need by renewable resources including wind, water and marine sources by 2020. In eight years, Scotland plans to jump from 35 percent to 100 percent (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/2012-10-04/whisky-to-fuel-cars-as-professor-drives-recycling-plan.html ).

That is quite an ambitious goal.

 Coffee is another commonly consumed beverage that has waste products suitable for biodiesel production with relatively ease. An extraction with hexane/ether is something I did in an undergraduate organic chemistry laboratory. If we already make large volumes of a substance, why not recycle the by-products to do something else? 

Photo credit: http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2008/12/16/coffee-as-a-source-of-biodiese/

With such a stake and dependence on big oil companies, the United States would never dare make such a bold proposition. In 2011, about 9.3 percent of the total United States energy consumption and 12.7 percent of electricity generation came from renewable energy sources. The EIA, the US Energy Information Agency, bragged that the former percentage was the “largest share of energy consumption since 1950” and the latter “the largest share of electricity generation since 1984” (http://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=92&t=4). It is extremely discouraging that the 2011 figures can only be shone in positively light by comparing them to sixty and twenty-five year old statistics. If so much can be done, why are my tax dollars going toward an extraneous war in the Middle East when they could be trying to rival Scotland’s 100% renewable energy goal? Scotland is not addicted to fossil fuels the way the US is. Until we decide to break that addiction, our renewable energy technology will continue to lag behind other countries.

In the United States, it would cost between $0.51 - $0.70 to produce a liter of biodiesel. Though the costs of labor, transportation, electricity for the plant, and other equipment have yet to be factored in, the availability (and cost) of biodiesel does not depend on conditions halfway across the globe. I was unable to track down a figure on the cost to product 1 liter of unleaded regular to compare the two. 

Photo credit: http://origin.arstechnica.com/news.media/BiodieselMap.jpg 

I approve my tax dollars to do that: fund the development of biofuel-powered cars.