Soap-derived biokerosene as an aviation alternative fuel: Production, composition, and properties of various blends with jet fuel

Abstract

This research has developed a soap-derived biokerosene (SBK) production process to produce hydrocarbons for use as an aviation alternative fuel. The SBK production process was developed in keeping with the conditions of the available technologies and investment while leveraging the advantage of an abundant national feedstock resource that is found in Indonesia in particular, and tropical emerging countries in general. The production of SBK comprises two main processes: saponification and thermal decarboxylation to convert coconut oil into hydrocarbons. The composition of SBK was analyzed and compared to that of Jet A1. Additionally, the critical properties of SBK and several of its blends with Jet A1 were measured and collated with the established jet fuel standard. The results show that SBK can be blended directly with Jet A1 at up to 10 vol.% to meet selected properties: distillation temperature, flash point, density, net heating value, viscosity, freezing point, smoke point, and oxidation stability. From this study, it can be concluded that SBK is feasible for use as a drop-in aviation fuel when blended with conventional jet fuel. Thus, the SBK production is highly promising for use in tropical countries to produce aviation biofuels, given the appropriate technologies and feedstock resources.