In light of recent claims; a few individuals have shown that they can drive as far on a gallon of butanol as they can with a gallon of gasoline. That roughly means that for a given distance; the carbon output is halved. If the fuel is to be produced from atmospheric CO2, there would be a net reduction of atmospheric carbon without having to change significantly the current infrastructure; thus giving more time to bring about infrastructure changes to support new technologies.

The literature indicates that butanol can be synthesized from syn gas or from carbon dioxide and hydrogen using different catalytic processes and using a combination of copper,zinc, and iron catalyst mixtures on zeolites.

Other literature indicates that it may be possible to produce butanol as a preferred product through the proper choice of bacteria and biomass.

Given that a solar generator is available to produce hydrogen; what are the pros and cons of choosing an organic route as opposed to the catalytic inorganic route to liquid fuel (butanol) from atmospheric carbon dioxide?