Professor Noritate Tsubaki of the Graduate School of Science and Engineering, University of Toyama, the Materials and Materials Research Organization, and Xiamen University in China have jointly succeeded in directly synthesizing aircraft jet fuel using Fischer-Tropsch (FT) synthesis.
FT synthesis is a catalytic reaction that synthesizes light oil or light olefin using a synthetic gas (mixed gas of carbon monoxide and hydrogen).Syngas is an extremely important industrial production method because it is obtained by thermally decomposing a wide range of raw materials such as natural gas, biomass, coal, combustible waste, and heavy oil.
Professor Tsubaki and his colleagues worked on the production of biojet fuel from biomass by FT synthesis in the project of the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) (Biomass Energy Technology Research and Development, 2012-2016).However, in order to meet strict jet fuel standards, it is necessary to go through a multi-step manufacturing process, and the high cost of outlet products is an issue.Jet fuel production using carbon dioxide and hydrogen as raw materials instead of syngas is also carried out by the same catalytic reaction route as FT synthesis, but the steps are complicated.
Therefore, Professor Tsubaki and his colleagues worked on "direct synthesis" of jet fuel by FT synthesis, and succeeded in directly synthesizing gasoline with a unique capsule-type catalyst.From there, the catalyst design was further reviewed, and a new catalyst was developed in which the rare earth element lanthanum and metallic cobalt were supported on zeolite with precise control of acid points and pore structure.When FT synthesis was performed using this, jet fuel was obtained with a very high selectivity of 72%, and high reaction results were obtained not only with synthetic gas but also with carbon dioxide and hydrogen.
Furthermore, it was found that when the carrier metal of this catalyst is changed from lanthanum to cerium, gasoline can be synthesized, and when it is changed to potassium, light oil can be synthesized.From this, it can be said that this catalyst system is extremely useful for manufacturing various fuels as an "on-demand catalyst".
Paper information:[Nature Catalysis] “Integrated tunable synthesis of liquid fuels via Fischer–Tropsch technology
