Is Butanol the Fuel of the Future?

I was interviewing a DEP inspector about underground storage tanks the other day and he got up on what must be his favorite soapbox - butanol as a substitute for gasoline and a replacement for ethanol. He said butanol is more energy dense than ethanol, isn't as corrosive to pipelines and certain plastics, and does everything except drive the car for you. I was a little skeptical, not having heard of the stuff before, and wondered if it wasn't one of those chimeras, like the cars that run on water. (You know, the ones the car companies are holding all the patents for.) But when I looked on the web, it appears that such mainstays of industry as BP and Du Pont are working with it. Take a look at the fact sheet they've put out, and butanol.com and an interview with Phillip New, president of BP Biofuels. Follow the string of comments following the interview, and you'll see that it can be made from coal at competitive prices, which warms the heart cockles of this Mountain Stater.