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Sustainable development

Breakthrough in Sustainable Aviation Fuel Production

Strategic Insights

— 1 min read

Researchers at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have made significant advancements in producing sustainable aviation fuel from biomass. A study published in the journal Fuel has demonstrated the synthesis, conditioning, and catalytic upgrading of 2,3-butanediol (BDO) fermentation broth into a jet fuel blendstock candidate. This breakthrough has the potential to address climate change and meet carbon emission targets in the aviation industry.

Key Takeaways:

  • A novel process was developed for catalytic upgrading of aqueous 2,3-BDO into a jet fuel blendstock candidate, which includes four steps: dehydration, conversion, oligomerization, and hydrogenation.
  • The process demonstrated high selectivity to olefins (82.5%) and stable conditions for 70-hours time-on-stream, with a continuous loss of conversion attributed to reversible deactivation from coking species.
  • Oligomerization of light olefins led to the formation of dimers (C8-10) and trimers (C13-14), with a jet fraction consisting mostly of desired isoalkanes, n-alkanes, and cycloalkanes.
  • The process meets carbon emission targets, and the final boiling point temperature, freezing point, density, aromatics content, and sulfur content of the jet blendstock candidate were within acceptable ranges, according to ASTM D7566 specifications.
  • The research was funded by the United States Department of Energy (DOE), and the paper was peer-reviewed and published in the journal Fuel.
  • The study has the potential to address the increasing demand for sustainable supplies of aviation fuel.

Statistics:

  • The study demonstrated a 50% loss of conversion over 140 hours time-on-stream (TOS) with the real 2,3-BDO fermentation broth.
  • High selectivity to olefins (82.5%) was obtained at high conversion levels (93-98 %) with stable conditions for 70-hours TOS.
  • Oligomerization of light olefins led to the formation of dimers (C8-10) and trimers (C13-14).
  • The jet fraction consisted mostly of desired isoalkanes (31.7 wt%), n-alkanes (24.5 wt%), and cycloalkanes (29.6 wt %).

Sources:

  • Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
  • Journal of Fuel (Elsevier)
  • United States Department of Energy (DOE)
  • Nature Research (NewsRx)

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