Efficient production of jet-fuel precursors via one-pot dehydration-oligomerization of higher alcohols from upgrading of bioethanol

The transformation of bioethanol via dehydration, oligomerization, and hydrogenation is an emerging strategy to produce jet-fuel, but still faces significant challenges. In this study, phosphotungstic acid (HPW) loaded on beta-zeolite (Hβ) (denoted as x%HPW-β) was constructed as catalysts for the direct dehydration-oligomerization of higher alcohols (i.e., n-butanol, n-hexanol, 2-ethylbutanol, 2-ethylhexanol, and their corresponding mixture) derived from upgrading of bio-ethanol. The catalyst loaded with HPW exhibits enhanced catalytic activity compared with pure Hβ owing to the increasing acidic sites, and 20%HPW-β possessed the best performance. By adjusting the mass ratio of n-butanol to n-hexanol to 3:2, the selectivity of C8-C16 jet fuel precursors could reach 59.5 % over 20% HPW-β at 240 °C. The excellent result confirmed the high potential of the proposed strategy to produce jet fuel.