Distilling whisky results in waste products, namely pot ale left in the copper stills and spent grains. Scottish scientists have now developed a means to convert this waste matter into a useful biofuel:

It can be used in conventional cars without adapting their engines. The team also said it could be used to fuel planes and as the basis for chemicals such as acetone, an important solvent.

The new method developed by the team produces butanol, which gives 30% more power output than the traditional biofuel ethanol. It is based on a 100-year-old process that was originally developed to produce butanol and acetone by fermenting sugar. The team has adapted this to use whiskey by-products as a starting point and has filed for a patent to cover the new method. It plans to create a spin-out company to commercialise the invention.

Link via TigerHawk | Photo by Flickr user mnem used under Creative Commons license