United States must reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by at least 50 % below 2005 levels by 2030 and achieve net zero emissions by 2050. The transportation sector accounts for about 24 % of total GHG emissions in the United States. Though passenger vehicles and small diesel engine trucks could be phased out by electric vehicles, heavy-duty engines, such as airplanes, will still require liquid fuels for the foreseeable future. Several technologies have been developed to produce fuels from renewable sources to fulfill net zero emission, such as hydrogenation of fats/oils, alcohol dehydration/oligomerization, sugar hydrogenation, syngas hydrogenation, and biodiesel fractionation. However, these technologies have high energy requirements for production, low yields of target products, or high energy needs for product separation. High oleic oils initially have received attention for their health and nutrition benefits, but industrial applications are now receiving attention. In this study, nonanoic acid from ozonolysis of oleic acid in high oleic soybean oil was used as the feedstock to produce various alcohol esters via methanesulfonic acid catalysis. Varying the carbon length of the alcohol exhibits an insignificant effect on the density of the products but significantly influences other properties, such as cloud points, viscosity, and heat of combustion. Our results show that these products could be excellent alternatives to jet fuels or kerosene because of the excellent cold flow properties with the cloud points ranging from -35 <sup>o</sup>C to -67 <sup>o</sup>C depending on the type of alcohol. Viscosities of the products were significantly affected by the temperature, alcohol carbon chain length, and isomerization of the alcohol. The heat of combustion increased approximately linearly with the carbon number of the alcohols. In addition, the products exhibit excellent oxidation stability and less nitrogen oxide production during combustion. Therefore, the approach we described provides a novel method to produce alternatives to petroleum-based jet fuel, kerosene, and diesel fuels.

Biofuel production from ozonolysis of high oleic oil as the alternative to jet fuel and kerosene

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