Synthesis of High-Density Aviation Fuel with Cyclopentanol

Decalin is the main component of JP-900, a thermally stable and high-energy density jet fuel. Decalin is also an important component of advanced jet fuels. Cyclopentanol is a platform compound that can be derived from lignocellulose. In this work, a mixture of C 10 and C 15 polycycloalkanes (with decalin as the major component) was first synthesized by the oligomerization/rearrangement of cyclopentene from the dehydration of cyclopentanol, followed by hydrogenation. Among the investigated catalysts, Amberlyst-36 resin demonstrated the highest activity and excellent stability for cyclopentanol dehydration and cyclopentene oligomerization/rearrangement. The influences of reaction temperature and reaction time on the catalytic performances of Amberlyst-36 resin for both reactions were investigated. Under the optimum conditions, 84.0% carbon yield of cyclopentene was obtained from cyclopentanol dehydration, and 74.2% carbon yield of C 10 and C 15 polycycloalkenes was achieved by the oligomerization/rearrangement of cyclopentene. Finally, the C 10 and C 15 polycycloalkenes from the oligomerization/rearrangement of cyclopentene were further hydrogenated to a mixture of C 10 and C 15 polycycloalkanes with decalin as the major component (77% selectivity). This polycycloalkane mixture has high density (0.896 g mL –1 ). As a potential application, it can be used as an additive to improve the volumetric calorific values of conventional biojet fuels.