Multifunctional catalysts to improve the conversion and selectivity of the oil-to-jet pathway

Oil-to-jet (OTJ) represents the most mature – and commonly used – technology pathway approved to produce sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). In fact, lipid-based technology like OTJ is expected to be the primary pathway used to achieve 2030 SAF production targets. However, current OTJ technology is mostly based on the hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) reaction, which displays several shortcomings. Indeed, HDO-based OTJ requires problematic sulfided catalysts, high amounts and pressures of hydrogen, as well as the use of dilute lipid streams to manage the thermal effects of a highly exothermic reaction. In addition, SAF production via HDO-based OTJ typically involves separate deoxygenation and isomerization steps that result mainly in normal and branched alkanes but not in other SAF components, namely, cycloalkanes and aromatics. Multifunctional catalysts capable of performing lipid deoxygenation via decarboxylation/decarbonylation (deCOx) as well as isomerization, cyclization, and aromatization reactions in “one-pot” can overcome the limitations of HDO-based OTJ and greatly improve this pathway.