Evaluation of bio-acetal as a sustainable alternative jet fuel

Abstract

The European Council’s strict regulation on carbon dioxide (CO2) emission-allowances for all flights taking off and landing on EU countries has encouraged the development of bio-jet fuels from plant oil due to its advantage of carbon neutrality. The common production methods of bio-jet fuel involve the thermo-chemical cracking of plant oil into short carbon chain fragments of around C8 to C10 compounds. This is often conducted at high reaction temperature and pressure. In the present study a milder approach using ozonization and electrolysis has been applied for the cracking of fatty acid methyl esters derived from sunflower oil, and the acceptability of the reaction products in bio-blend jet fuel was evaluated. The major chemical compounds generated were aldehydes, but the thermal stability of these compounds was too poor to be utilized as a bio-jet fuel. Acetal, which can be derived from aldehyde, has a high thermal stability and at the same time its flash point, specific energy and freezing point are comparable to that of Jet A-1 fuel. A 10 % blend of 1,1- dimethoxynonane (acetal derived from nonanal) did not change the important fuel properties of Jet A-1. The high thermal stability of this blend was also confirmed.