Alcohol to Jet Fuel

In the interest of energy independence and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, alternative fuels derived from renewable rather than fossil sources is a major topic of R&D within private industry, universities, and government.  The Alcohol to Jet (AtJ) pathway is of major interest recently, especially as routes to higher-carbon bio-alcohols, such as bio-butanol, have become commercially viable.  In the standard AtJ pathway, dehydration of bio-alcohol (usually bio-butanol) yields the versatile butene platform molecule, which can be oligomerized to form pure olefins that boil in the jet range.  Upon further hydrogenation by well-established hydrotreating technology, the olefins are converted into stable paraffins with high yield of jet-boiling product.