Fermenting Sugars to Create Diesel

[Ulrik]

A long-abandoned fermentation process once used to turn starch into explosives can be used to produce renewable diesel fuel.

The retooled process produces a mix of products that contain more energy per gallon than ethanol that is used today in transportation fuels and could be commercialized within 5-10 years.

The process employs the bacterium Clostridium acetobutylicum to ferment sugars into acetone, butanol and ethanol. a method was developed for extracting the acetone and butanol from the fermentation mixture while leaving most of the ethanol behind. Then a catalyst is used to convert this ideally-proportioned brew into a mix of long-chain hydrocarbons that resembles the combination of hydrocarbons in diesel fuel.

[Seabastian.Smith]

How much sugar is needed to create how much diesel? I have read that this is an expensive process, but one the researchers consider worthwhile because it helps to reduce carbon emissions slightly. At the end of the day its still diesel, and no one will willingly pay the higher price, when normal diesel is available.