PNNL technology clears way for ethanol-derived jet fuel

PNNL technology clears way for ethanol-derived jet fuel
PNNL researcher Rich Hallen helped develop a process that converts ethanol to jet fuel in partnership with LanzaTech. Though the ethanol can be sourced from any raw material, sugar, corn, trash etc., LanzaTech produces ethanol using waste gas emissions from industrial sites. By coupling the waste gas to ethanol and ethanol to jet processes, the team can make industrial waste gases into jet fuel. An international standards body, ASTM, just revised their standard to allow ethanol as a feedstock to produce jet fuel. Credit: PNNL/Andrea Starr


Using its expertise in chemistry and catalysis, PNNL developed a unique thermocatalytic process for converting into ATJ-SPK. The first step of the process is to convert the ethanol into ethylene ("dehydration"). During the second step ("oligomerization"), ethylene molecules are chemically combined to build the range of hydrocarbon molecules needed for fuel. These hydrocarbons are then hydrogenated, followed by fractionation to produce alcohol-to-jet synthetic paraffinic kerosene with the desired properties. The process can use ethanol from any source, including ethanol produced via LanzaTech's proprietary gas-to-ethanol process.






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Citation: PNNL technology clears way for ethanol-derived jet fuel (2018, June 11) retrieved 26 February 2021 from https://phys.org/news/2018-06-pnnl-technology-ethanol-derived-jet-fuel.html

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