Novel pathways for fuels and lubricants from biomass optimized using life-cycle greenhouse gas assessment
- Energy Biosciences Institute, Berkeley, CA (United States)
- Energy Biosciences Institute, Berkeley, CA (United States); University of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)
- Energy Biosciences Institute, Berkeley, CA (United States); BP North America, Inc., Berkeley, CA (United States)
- Energy Biosciences Institute, Berkeley, CA (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Decarbonizing the transportation sector is critical to achieving global climate change mitigation. Although biofuels will play an important role in conventional gasoline and diesel applications, bioderived solutions are particularly important in jet fuels and lubricants, for which no other viable renewable alternatives exist. Producing compounds for jet fuel and lubricant base oil applications often requires upgrading fermentation products, such as alcohols and ketones, to reach the appropriate molecular-weight range. Ketones possess both electrophilic and nucleophilic functionality, which allows them to be used as building blocks similar to alkenes and aromatics in a petroleum refining complex. Here, we develop a method for selectively upgrading biomass-derived alkyl methyl ketones with >95% yields into trimer condensates, which can then be hydrodeoxygenated in near-quantitative yields to give a new class of cycloalkane compounds. The basic chemistry developed here can be tailored for aviation fuels as well as lubricants by changing the production strategy. We also demonstrate that a sugarcane biorefinery could use natural synergies between various routes to produce a mixture of lubricant base oils and jet fuels that achieve net life-cycle greenhouse gas savings of up to 80%.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC)
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC02-05CH11231
- OSTI ID:
- 1221647
- Alternate ID(s):
- OSTI ID: 1571045
- Journal Information:
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Vol. 112, Issue 25; ISSN 0027-8424
- Publisher:
- National Academy of SciencesCopyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Web of Science
Similar Records
Production and catalytic upgrading of 2,3-butanediol fermentation broth into sustainable aviation fuel blendstock and fuel properties measurement
Production and Catalytic Upgrading of 2,3-Butanediol Fermentation Broth into Sustainable Aviation Fuel Blendstock and Fuel Properties Measurement