A tandem dehydration–hydrogenation route to jet‐fuel‐range alkanes from bio‐derived high‐carbon alcohols

This study presents an alternative tandem dehydration–hydrogenation pathway that preserves the carbon chain during the conversion of high‐carbon alcohols (C 8 –C 14 in this work) into jet‐fuel‐range alkanes. A series of acidic WO x /AC catalysts efficiently dehydrates alcohols to alkenes, which are subsequently hydrogenated over Ni/Al 2 O 3 under mild conditions. Catalyst characterization revealed the central role of Brønsted acidity in the dehydration step. A continuous two‐stage fixed‐bed reactor system, with WO x /AC and Ni/Al 2 O 3 in series, efficiently carried out the tandem process. Dehydration at 180°C achieved 98.2% conversion of C 8 alcohol, and the resulting alkenes were fully hydrogenated at 60°C to yield linear and branched alkanes resembling conventional jet fuel. Using pilot‐scale, bio‐ethanol‐derived C 8 –C 14 heavy alcohols, this process lowered the oxygen content from 11.87 to 0.16 wt% and converted 98.77% of the feed into hydrocarbons of matched carbon number, demonstrating an efficient, carbon‐preserving route to sustainable aviation fuel.