A high-performance liquid biofuel produced from biomass-derived 2-cyclopentenone as an intermediate

The productive motivation of high-energy-density fuels from sustainable feedstocks has been prompted by environmental concerns and resource scarcities. To address this demand, here, the energy-rich C10 cycloalkanes were first afforded with biomass-derived 2-cyclopentenone (2CPE). Initially, bio-based 2CPE can be converted to tricyclo-diketones by (2 + 2) cycloaddition under UV irradiation or zeolite catalysis. The UV-light photocatalysis for dimerization of 2CPE to diketol-cycloadducts disclosed outstanding advantages of cost-effectiveness and feasibility than traditional zeolite-catalyzed manner, with a yield of 53.61 % at ambient temperature for 2 h. Despite the potential for high dimer yield (77.28 %) under thermo-catalysis of H-ZSM-5 zeolite, the reaction conditions (120 °C, 18 h) were found to be suboptimal. Subsequently, diketol-cycloadducts were selectively and efficiently hydrodeoxygenated to provide cyclopentane-based hydrocarbons using a Huang-Minlon methodology with a yield of 97.04 %, where the target components were directly distilled during the reaction. Specifically, the as-synthesized C10 cycloalkane mixture originated from 2CPE possess high density of 0.96 g mL−1, large volumetric heat net of combustion (NHOC) of 40.02 MJ L−1, along with low freezing point of −49 °C. These properties suggest that the bio-liquid cycloalkanes can be used as a standalone high-energy fuel or as a blending agent to enhance the performance of conventional jet fuels.