Cheers! Scientists Say They've Figured Out How To Turn Beer Into Fuel

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – Grab a six-pack, British chemists say they have figured out how to turn beer into fuel to drive your car.

Chemists at the University of Bristol say they have figured out the first steps towards making sustainable petrol using beer as the key ingredient.

Scientists at the school say they have been working for several years to develop technology that will convert ethanol into butanol.

Professor Duncan Wass led the research team and in a press release said: "The alcohol in alcoholic drinks is actually ethanol - exactly the same molecule that we want to convert into butanol as a petrol replacement."

Scientists say the team's key finding was that their catalysts will convert beer, or more specifically the ethanol in beer, into butanol.

"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," Wass said.

The school says the next step in the process is to test their process on a much larger scale, which could take as long as five years if everything went well.

"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," Wass said.