Renewable engine fuel and method of producing same
DCFirst Claim
1. A method of producing bio-mass derived high-octane fuel, comprising the steps of:
- (a) fermenting a biomass with a microorganism or a mutagen thereof to produce a mixture of metabolites comprising acetone and butanol;
(b) separating the acetone from butanol and any ethanol or other solvents in the mixture by fractional distillation;
(c) dimerizing a portion of resultant acetone from step (b) to form isopentane;
(d) trimerizing another portion of the acetone from step (b) using a catalyst containing at least one metal selected from the group consisting of niobium, iron, and manganese to form mesitylene, and(e) mixing the mesitylene with the isopentane from steps (c) and (d), whereby to form the biomass-derived high-octane fuel.
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Abstract
The present invention provides non-petroleum high-octane fuel derived from biomass sources, and a method of producing same. The method of production involves reducing the biomass feedstocks to sugars, fermenting the sugars using microorganisms or mutagens thereof to produce ethanol or acetic acid, converting the acetic acid or ethanol to acetone, and converting the acetone to mesitylene and isopentane, the major components of the renewable engine fuel. Trimerization of acetone can be carried out in the presence of a catalyst containing at least one metal selected from the group consisting of niobium, iron and manganese. The ethanol can be converted to mesitylene in a dehydration reaction in the presence of a catalyst of zinc oxide/calcium oxide, and unreacted ethanol and water separated from mesitylene by distillation. These ethanol-based, biomass-derived fuels are fully renewable, may be formulated to have a wide range of octane values and energy, and may effectively be used to replace 100 LL aviation fuel (known as AvGas), as well as high-octane, rocket, diesel, turbine engine fuels, as well as two-cycle, spark-ignited engine fuels.
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Citations
16 Claims
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1. A method of producing bio-mass derived high-octane fuel, comprising the steps of:
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(a) fermenting a biomass with a microorganism or a mutagen thereof to produce a mixture of metabolites comprising acetone and butanol; (b) separating the acetone from butanol and any ethanol or other solvents in the mixture by fractional distillation; (c) dimerizing a portion of resultant acetone from step (b) to form isopentane; (d) trimerizing another portion of the acetone from step (b) using a catalyst containing at least one metal selected from the group consisting of niobium, iron, and manganese to form mesitylene, and (e) mixing the mesitylene with the isopentane from steps (c) and (d), whereby to form the biomass-derived high-octane fuel. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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Specification