Scientist creates commercially viable fuel from whisky

A scientist has created the first commercially feasible fuel developed from whisky by-products that could be substituted “like-for-like” with oil.

A scientist has created the world’s first commercially viable fuel from whisky waste

Professor Martin Tangney, director of Napier University’s biofuel research centre, has produced biobutanol – an advanced biofuel that could become a substitute for oil used in car and aviation fuel, as well as other technologies.

The first samples were unveiled at the Scotch Whisky Experience in Edinburgh, and the professor and his team have now scaled up production from lab to pre-commercial scale.

“The underlying technology that we use in this process is actually 100 years old,” he said.

“It’s fermentation known as the ABE fermentation, which was developed in the UK mainly to produce acetone for explosives in the First World War, and by the end of the Second World War it was the second biggest biological process that the world had seen.

“It died out in the 1960s because it couldn’t compete with the petrochemical industry as a source of these chemicals.

“You should really look at butanol as being a like-for-like substitute for oil.”