Abstract
BackgroundThe production of fuels and chemicals from renewable resources is increasingly important due to the environmental concern and depletion of fossil fuel. Despite the fast technical development in the production of aviation fuels, there are still several shortcomings such as a high cost of raw materials, a low yield of aviation fuels, and poor process techno-economic consideration. In recent years, olefin metathesis has become a powerful and versatile tool for generating new carbon–carbon bonds. The cross-metathesis reaction, one kind of metathesis reaction, has a high potential to efficiently convert plant oil into valuable chemicals, such as α-olefin and bio-aviation fuel by combining with a hydrotreatment process.ResultsIn this research, an efficient, four-step conversion of plant oil into bio-aviation fuel and valuable chemicals was developed by the combination of enzymatic transesterification, olefin cross-metathesis, and hydrotreating. Firstly, plant oil including oil with poor properties was esterified to fatty acid methyl esters by an enzyme-catalyzed process. Secondly, the fatty acid methyl esters were partially hydrotreated catalytically to transform poly-unsaturated fatty acid such as linoleic acid into oleic acid. The olefin cross-metathesis then transformed the oleic acid methyl ester (OAME) into 1-decene and 1-decenoic acid methyl ester (DAME). The catalysts used in this process were prepared/selected in function of the catalytic reaction and the reaction conditions were optimized. The carbon efficiency analysis of the new process illustrated that it was more economically feasible than the traditional hydrotreatment process.ConclusionsA highly efficient conversion process of plant oil into bio-aviation fuel and valuable chemicals by the combination of enzymatic transesterification, olefin cross-metathesis, and hydrotreatment with prepared and selected catalysts was designed. The reaction conditions were optimized. Plant oil was transformed into bio-aviation fuel and a high value α-olefin product with high carbon utilization.
Highlights
The production of fuels and chemicals from renewable resources is increasingly important due to the environmental concern and depletion of fossil fuel
Process introduction As the use of inexpensive plant oil as feedstock was an efficient way to reduce the cost of bio-aviation fuel and valuable chemicals’ production [13], a non-edible plant oil, crude Amygdalus Pedunculata plant oil was used as raw material in this research
To make a better utilization of the plant oil, the fatty acid composition was firstly analyzed by methanolysis derivatization and GC–MS detection
Summary
The production of fuels and chemicals from renewable resources is increasingly important due to the environmental concern and depletion of fossil fuel. The cross-metathesis reaction, one kind of metathesis reaction, has a high potential to efficiently convert plant oil into valuable chemicals, such as α-olefin and bio-aviation fuel by combining with a hydrotreatment process. The production of bio-aviation fuel from biomass feedstock has become a hot research topic in recent years, e.g., UOP/ Honeywell developed the hydrogenated esters and fatty acids (HEFA) processes to upgrade vegetable oils and fats to renewable jet/diesel fuels [10,11,12]. The use of inexpensive vegetable oils, fats as feedstock and the development of new processes with high yield for bio-aviation fuel production are effective ways to reduce the costs [13]. The cross-metathesis (CM) reaction, one kind of metathesis reaction, enables to efficiently convert plant oil into valuable chemicals, such as α-olefin, and bio-aviation fuel by combination with a hydrotreatment process
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