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Renewable Gasoline, Solvents, and Fuel Additives from 2,3‐Butanediol
Author(s) -
Harvey Benjamin G.,
Merriman Walter W.,
Quintana Roxanne L.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
chemsuschem
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.412
H-Index - 157
eISSN - 1864-564X
pISSN - 1864-5631
DOI - 10.1002/cssc.201600225
Subject(s) - oxygenate , gasoline , chemistry , dioxolane , solvent , organic chemistry , diesel fuel , dimethoxymethane , ethanol , renewable fuels , biofuel , yield (engineering) , catalysis , chemical engineering , waste management , materials science , fossil fuel , engineering , metallurgy
2,3‐Butanediol (2,3‐BD) is a renewable alcohol that can be prepared in high yield from biomass sugars. 2,3‐BD was selectively dehydrated in a solvent‐free process to a complex mixture of 2‐ethyl‐2,4,5‐trimethyl‐1,3‐dioxolanes and 4,5‐dimethyl‐2isopropyl dioxolanes with the heterogeneous acid catalyst Amberlyst‐15. The purified dioxolane mixture exhibited an anti‐knock index of 90.5, comparable to high octane gasoline, and a volumetric net heat of combustion 34 % higher than ethanol. The solubility of the dioxolane mixture in water was only 0.8 g per 100 mL, nearly an order of magnitude lower than the common gasoline oxygenate methyl tert ‐butyl ether. The dioxolane mixture has potential applications as a sustainable gasoline blending component, diesel oxygenate, and industrial solvent.