Scientists have found a new way to make petrol out of booze

Few pints, be grand.

Scientists have discovered a way of making beer turn into petrol. According to the Independent, chemists from the University of Bristol have been trying for years to create a formula to turn ethanol into butanol, but nothing has really worked until now. Apparently, making gasoline from using ethanol can be tricky, with its low energy density and its reaction to water. Butanol is a much better fuel alternative, however, it is tricky to make from sustainable sources. With this at the forefront of the chemists' minds, they set out to develop technology to convert the ethanol found in alcohol into butanol. Professor Duncan Wass said: “Alcoholic drinks are an ideal model for industrial ethanol fermentation broths - ethanol for fuel is essentially made using a brewing process. “If our technology works with alcoholic drinks (especially beer which is the best model) then it shows it has the potential to be scaled up to make butanol as a petrol replacement on an industrial scale.” Professor Duncan's team demonstrated the potential to create butanol-based sustainable fuel, which can be carried out on a much larger scale in the future. “Turning beer into petrol was a bit of fun, and something to do with the leftovers of the lab Christmas party, but it has a serious point,” he said. “Beer is actually an excellent model for the mixture of chemicals we would need to use in a real industrial process, so it shows this technology is one step closer to reality.”