Preparation Of Hydrophobic Double Effect Catalyst And Its Application In Synthesis Of Aviation Fuel With High Performance

Efficient and selective upgrading of aqueous acetone-n-butanol-ethanol(ABE)mixtures to high-density aviation fuel is extremely desirable but still remains a significant challenge.Firstly,aimed at efficient upgrading of water-containing acetone-butanol-ethanol(ABE)fermentation mixture,we designed and synthesized a series of Ni/MgO-SBA-16 catalysts,which were based on hydrophobic SBA-16 with highly condensed structures.These catalysts exhibited low water adsorptive capacities and relatively favorable hydrophobicity.As expected,the as-prepared catalysts showed excellent catalytic activity and water-tolerance:in the catalytic transformation of ABE fermentation broth to biofuels,the initial water content can be increased from 0.5 wt%to 7.4 wt%as reported in the literature.Then,based on the hydrothermal stability catalyst,we report an efficient strategy in which aqueous ABE fermentation mixtures were transformed into branched alkylcyclohexanes with simultaneously high energy-density(143 btu/gal/103)and low freezing point(<123 K),meeting the stringent specifications even for military fuels(JP-10).Monoalkylation of ABE mixtures with an initial water content of 12.1 wt%,trimer condensation of the obtained methyl ketones,and hydrodeoxygenation(HDO)reactions compose the three-step domino reactions.Specially,in the first step,On account of the satisfying performances of the catalysts,the homogeneous fermentation products containing high water content(12.1 wt%)were converted efficiently and smartly into two-layer mixtures,which is phase-separable,improving the economic feasibility by reducing energy-intensive purifications and complying with the "green chemistry" principle.In the second step,methyl ketones are efficiently converted into cyclic ketones by trimer condensation reaction,with the main product yield up to 94%.Besides,the mechanism study reveals that the medium-strong and strong base sites played a vital role in the trimer condensation.Overall,this work not only opens up new avenues for production of high-performance aviation fuel from fermantation products,but also offers great promise for the rational design and fabrication of heterogeneous catalysts with high activity and hydrothermal stability.