Advantages & Comparisons

Maverick’s mixed-alcohol biofuel is a mixture of ethanol, propanol, butanol, and a small percentage of higher carbon content alcohols.  This mixture of alcohols will have an energy content that is approximately 85% that of gasoline, will have an octane rating higher than gasoline, and will have general handling characteristics that are more compatible than ethanol with gasoline. 

Comparison to Ethanol
Ethanol contains about 70% of the energy of gasoline, is corrosive to many components in existing systems such as some gasket materials and certain types of metal, and attracts water.  Ethanol cannot be distributed in the same pipelines with gasoline due to these chemical characteristics.  These chemical characteristics also limit the amount of ethanol that can be blended with gasoline.  The lower energy content of ethanol results in lower miles per gallon when compared to gasoline.

Comparison to Methanol
Methanol is easily synthesized from syngas, but it only contains 50% of the energy of gasoline, and is extremely toxic.  Very few companies are producing methanol as a biofuel due to its low energy content.  Its low energy content means that it will not likely achieve market acceptance as a biofuel. 

Comparison to Other Mixed Alcohol Processes
Several companies are trying to directly convert syngas into a mixture of alcohols.  These efforts include separating ethanol from the methanol and the higher alcohols by distillation. Limitations include a) significant methanol production, b) requirement for very high pressures, c) product mix  has a relatively low energy content, d) extremely low syngas conversion per pass (around 20-25%), and e) no history of proven scalability.

Maverick High-Energy Biofuel Comparison

Other Biofuels