Abstract
With airlines committed to drastically reduce their carbon footprint by 2050, producing jet fuel from renewable ethanol is of particular interest. Recently, we reported on an Ag/ZrO2/SBA-16 catalyst that is very effective for directly converting ethanol into to n-butene-rich olefins jet fuel precursors (i.e., 88% at full conversion). Here, we report on a Cu/ZrO2/SBA-16 catalyst that presents remarkable olefins selectivity (i.e., 89% at 96% conversion) and enhanced stability as compared to Ag/ZrO2/SBA-16 catalyst. Under severe operating conditions a conversion loss < 10% was observed with the Cu/ZrO2/SBA-16 catalyst as compared to a 50% loss of conversion with the Ag/ZrO2/SBA-16 catalyst. Combined experimental and computational tools revealed that replacing Ag with Cu shifts the reaction pathway of crotonaldehyde hydrogenation from 1,3-butadiene (i.e., coke precursor) production to butyraldehyde formation. Experiments conducted with 4%Cu/4%ZrO2 supported on SBA-16, dealuminated zeolite Beta, and aluminum silicate revealed the performance and stability advantage of the SBA-16-supported catalyst.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 122707 |
| Journal | Applied Catalysis B: Environmental |
| Volume | 331 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Aug 15 2023 |
Funding
The authors gratefully acknowledge funding for this research, provided by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Bioenergy Technologies Office, at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), and in collaboration with the Chemical Catalysis for Bioenergy Consortium (ChemCatBio), a member of the Energy Materials Network. PNNL is operated for DOE by Battelle Memorial Institute. The use of catalyst characterization equipment was provided by a user proposal at the William R. Wiley Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, which is a national scientific user facility sponsored by the DOE Office of Biological and Environmental Research and located at PNNL in Richland, Washington. Computational work was performed using the PNNL Research Computing facility and the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center located at the Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory provided by a user proposal. The views and opinions of the authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the U.S. government or any agency thereof. Neither the U.S. government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, expressed or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. The authors gratefully acknowledge funding for this research, provided by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Bioenergy Technologies Office, at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), and in collaboration with the Chemical Catalysis for Bioenergy Consortium (ChemCatBio), a member of the Energy Materials Network. PNNL is operated for DOE by Battelle Memorial Institute. The use of catalyst characterization equipment was provided by a user proposal at the William R. Wiley Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, which is a national scientific user facility sponsored by the DOE Office of Biological and Environmental Research and located at PNNL in Richland, Washington. Computational work was performed using the PNNL Research Computing facility and the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center located at the Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory provided by a user proposal.
Keywords
- Biomass
- Ethanol
- N-butene
- Olefins
- Sustainable aviation fuel