Refining lipid for aviation biofuel at the molecular level

Xinghua Huang, Shengfei Dong and Xiaoyi Yang

Renewable Energy, 2022, vol. 201, issue P1, 148-159

Abstract: For improving aviation biofuel in quantity and quality, main precursor compounds have been investigated on the hydrotreating mechanism, including triglycerides by lipid extraction, fatty acid methyl/ethyl esters by transesterification, and fatty acids by hydrothermal liquefaction. Hydrotreating tests have been conducted on the effects of temperature, pressure, catalyst loading, and reaction time at molecular level. Fatty acid methyl/ethyl esters are the most desirable hydrotreating compounds for their highest biofuel yield and mildest upgrading conditions(≥290 °C, ≥10% catalyst loading). At the proper conditions of 290 °C and 30% catalyst loading, methyl stearate can yield 61.6% biofuel with 100% selectivity to alkanes. Fatty acids are the most difficult compounds to upgrade and should be hydrotreated above 310 °C and at least 30% catalyst loading, otherwise there are unconverted fatty acids, fatty aldehydes and fatty alcohols in the products. C30+ heavy esters are commonly found in the undesirable products and suppose to be derived from esterification of fatty acids and fatty alcohols under low temperature. Enhancing carbon number and unsaturation of the precursors promote the generation of olefins and oxygenates.

Keywords: Aviation biofuel; Hydrotreating; Fatty acids; Fatty acid methyl esters; Fatty acid ethyl esters; Triglycerides (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148122015671
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:renene:v:201:y:2022:i:p1:p:148-159

DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2022.10.074

Access Statistics for this article

Renewable Energy is currently edited by Soteris A. Kalogirou and Paul Christodoulides

More articles in Renewable Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().