High-Density Renewable Diesel and Jet Fuels Prepared from Multicyclic Sesquiterpanes and a 1-Hexene-Derived Synthetic Paraffinic Kerosene

Abstract

High-density renewable diesel and jet fuels have been generated by blending multicyclic sesquiterpanes with a synthetic paraffinic kerosene (5-methylundecane). The sesquiterpanes impart high density and volumetric net heat of combustion (NHOC) to the blends, while inclusion of the modestly branched paraffin decreases the viscosity and increases the cetane number of the blends. A surrogate diesel fuel comprising 65% sesquiterpanes and 35% 5-methylundecane had a cetane number of 45.7, a density of 0.853 g/mL, and a volumetric NHOC of 134.0 thousand British thermal units (kBtu)/gallon. By increasing the amount of paraffin to 60% by volume, a jet fuel surrogate was prepared with a cetane number of 57.0, a density of 0.806 g/mL, a −20 °C kinematic viscosity of 8.3 mm2/s, and a NHOC of 124.6 kBtu/gallon. The results show that full-performance and even ultraperformance fuels can be generated by combining bioderived sesquiterpanes and paraffins. The components of the fuel blends studied in this work can be genera...