High energy density renewable fuels based on multicyclic sesquiterpene: Synthesis and performance

Abstract

Considering the global carbon emissions and ambition of carbon neutrality, renewable fuels synthesized from biomass have great application prospects. Herein we adopted hydrogenation and cyclopropanation to synthesize four biofuels using α-cedrene and longifolene as feedstocks. Specifically, the modified Simmons-Smith method was used to synthesize cyclopropanated biofuels with a yield greater than 80% under the optimized conditions. The as-prepared biofuels possess the density of 0.925–0.965 g/mL, and the volumetric energy of 39.45–41.51 MJ/L. Additionally, the minimum ignition temperature and ignition delay time of the synthesized biofuels are shortened by 46–108 °C and 27.0–71.4%, respectively, compared with the widely used JP-10 fuel. The synthesized sesquiterpene-based biofuels have good potential to as alternative of high energy density fossil fuels like JP-10.