Finns making butanol from woody biomass

The news piece on Science Daily notes that Butanol is particularly suited as a transport fuel because it is not water soluble and has higher energy content than ethanol.

Most commonly used raw materials in butanol production have so far
been starch and cane sugar. In contrast to this, the starting point in
the Aalto University study was to use only lignocellulose, otherwise
known as wood biomass, which does not compete with food production and is plentiful in Canada.

Another new breakthrough in the study is to successfully combine
modern pulp – and biotechnology. Advanced forest industries in countries like Finland and Canada provide particularly good opportunities to develop this type of
bioprocess.