Abstract
This study aims to understand the effects of system process parameters such as flow rate, adsorbent particle size, and use of recycled adsorbent on denitrogenation performance of a model fuel using mesoporous silica gel. The goal is to reduce the nitrogen content of the model fuel from 1500 parts per million to single-digit ppm to meet ASTM specifications for drop-in fuels. This work was done with the intent of applying adsorptive denitrogenation to sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) product fractions produced via hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL). The adsorption performance of the silica is evaluated via packed column breakthrough data, with data generated from collecting from the column outlet and quantifying nitrogen content via gas chromatography. Select experiments use a significantly larger (2.5x column diameter and length) column to demonstrate linear scalability of the process. Thermogravimetric analysis data is collected to evaluate the effects of thermal calcination as a sorbent regeneration method. Effects of a more complex feed are also investigated using a known reference fuel with additional added nitrogen containing compounds. The results presented in this work successfully demonstrate up to 99.8 % removal of NCCs from a model fuel fraction at an original NCC concentration of approximately 1500 ppm to single-digit parts per million after treatment. We also examine calcination of sorbent materials to remove the adsorbed species to enable sorbent reuse and minimize waste generation and show that the calcined material can be reused up to 5 cycles with reduced adsorption capacity. Overall, this work indicates that adsorptive denitrogenation using silica gel is a viable solution to enable the integration of HTL-derived aviation fuels into existing fuel infrastructure.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry |
| DOIs | |
| State | Accepted/In press - 2025 |
Funding
This manuscript has been authored in part by UT-Battelle, LLC , under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the US Department of Energy (DOE). The research reported in this paper was sponsored by the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy , Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) under the BETO Bioprocessing Separations Consortium via Contract No. DE-AC36-08GO28308 . We thank Zachary Coin for this support with the experimental set up and installation of the gas chromatography column. We thank Lauren Valentino at Argonne National Laboratory for her leadership in the Separations Consortium. We thank Michael Cordon for the critical review of the manuscript. We thank Dr. Tim Edwards for supplying the JP-8 fuel used in this study. The views expressed in the article do not necessarily represent the views of the DOE or the US government. The US government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the US government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this work, or allow others to do so, for US government purposes. This manuscript has been authored by UT-Battelle, LLC, under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the US Department of Energy (DOE). The US government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the US government retains a nonexclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for US government purposes. DOE will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan ( https://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan ).
Keywords
- Adsorption techniques
- Advanced materials
- Process engineering
- Sustainable fuel technology