Carbon‐Efficient Lignocellulosic Biomass Conversion to Sustainable Aviation and Road Transport Fuels Through an Integrated HAA–HDO Process

ABSTRACT Conversion of abundant lignocellulosic biomass into low carbon transport fuels is seen as one of the key solutions to decarbonise the transport sector. Biomass dervied furfural and 2‐methyl furan can be converted to dimers and trimers via the hydroxyalkylation‐alkylation (HAA) pathway for the next step of fuel production via catalytic hydrodeoxygenation (HDO). We investigated HAA chemistry and found that the H‐Beta‐catalyst system achieved the highest HAA yield, with >95% conversion and ∼99% selectivity. These bigger C15‐furanics were subsequently converted into an oxygen‐free hydrocarbon liquid by the HDO process, containing the following hydrocarbon distribution: ∼9.2% of molecules were C7‐C9 hydrocarbons, 81.8% in the C10‐C15 range and ∼9% were in the carbon number range C16‐C22. The correlation between the acid sites and HAA activity was established using dealuminated H‐Beta. The H‐Beta catalyst employed in this study for the HAA reaction demonstrated excellent structural properties and reusability until four cycles. Overall, this process scheme shows promise for producing high‐quality blendstocks for transport fuels with high atom efficiency from lignocellulosic biomass, potentially enabling an economically attractive process.