Synthesis of renewable diesel and jet fuels from bio-based furanics via hydroxyalkylation/alkylation (HAA) over SO42-/TiO2 and hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) reactions

Upgrading biomass to renewable diesel and jet fuels is essential to achieve carbon neutrality. Herein, diesel and jet fuels range alkanes were produced by HAA of 2-methylfuran and furfural over solid acid SO 4 2- /TiO 2 and subsequent HDO over Pd/NbOPO 4 . A series of SO 4 2- /TiO 2 catalysts were synthesized by wetness impregnation to produce C15 fuel precursors. S/Ti-450 with a calcination temperature of 450 °C exhibited the highest activity, affording 97.9 % yield of C15 fuel precursor. Sufficient Brønsted acid sites and moderate Brønsted acid strength are responsible for the super catalytic performance of S/Ti-450. Stability studies demonstrated that S/Ti-450 could be regenerated. Furthermore, the application of S/Ti-450 in the HAA reaction was extended to other carbonyl compounds (e.g., butanal, cyclohexanone and acetone) and high yields of desired fuel precursors were obtained. Finally, C15 fuel precursor was further converted to long-chain alkanes via HDO over Pd/NbOPO 4 , yielding 85.0 % diesel and jet fuels range alkanes.