TY - JOUR
T1 - Production of a Sustainable Aviation Fuel Additive from Waste Polystyrene
AU - Prajapati, Ravindra
AU - Zaborowski, Eliah Owyn
AU - Lu, Hong
AU - Rajagopalan, Nandakishore
AU - Sharma, Brajendra K.
AU - Moser, Bryan R.
AU - Kumar, Nalin
N1 - The authors acknowledge the School of Chemical Science, University of Illinois, United States, for the CHN analysis. XRD, FTIR, and TGA were carried out in part in the Materials Research Laboratory Central Research Facilities, University of Illinois, United States. The fuel properties of liquid oil samples were analyzed by Nathaniel I. Dexter and Erin L. Walter at USDA-ARS-NCAUR (Peoria, IL), USA.This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy\u2019s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) under award number DE-SC0024038 and Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) under award number DE-EE0009266.
This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy\u2019s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) under award number DE-SC0024038 and Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) under award number DE-EE0009266.
PY - 2025/1/13
Y1 - 2025/1/13
N2 - Sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs) are an important lever to achieving net zero CO2 emissions in aviation. Fuel quality standards limit the blend volume of nonpetroleum-based jet fuel such as synthetic paraffinic kerosene (SPK) in Jet A to 50 vol %. One reason for this limit is the limited seal-swelling ability of SPK. Ethylbenzene (EB) as an additive can improve the swelling propensity of SPK. In this study, EB was produced through polystyrene pyrolysis, hydrogenation, and separation. The thermal pyrolysis of polystyrene produced a styrene-rich pyrolyzate. The pyrolyzate was hydrogenated by using Pd/C to produce an EB-rich mixture that yielded a crude EB of ∼90% purity on distillation. The O-ring swelling ability of crude EB of ∼90% purity was tested as a 12 and 16 vol % blend with SPK. Results reveal that EB addition enhanced seal swelling, but a more refined EB grade would be preferable. The results provide a pathway to address the twin issues of plastic pollution and SPK property improvement.
AB - Sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs) are an important lever to achieving net zero CO2 emissions in aviation. Fuel quality standards limit the blend volume of nonpetroleum-based jet fuel such as synthetic paraffinic kerosene (SPK) in Jet A to 50 vol %. One reason for this limit is the limited seal-swelling ability of SPK. Ethylbenzene (EB) as an additive can improve the swelling propensity of SPK. In this study, EB was produced through polystyrene pyrolysis, hydrogenation, and separation. The thermal pyrolysis of polystyrene produced a styrene-rich pyrolyzate. The pyrolyzate was hydrogenated by using Pd/C to produce an EB-rich mixture that yielded a crude EB of ∼90% purity on distillation. The O-ring swelling ability of crude EB of ∼90% purity was tested as a 12 and 16 vol % blend with SPK. Results reveal that EB addition enhanced seal swelling, but a more refined EB grade would be preferable. The results provide a pathway to address the twin issues of plastic pollution and SPK property improvement.
KW - ethylbenzene
KW - hydroprocessing
KW - polystyrene
KW - pyrolysis
KW - seal swelling
KW - sustainable aviation fuel
KW - synthetic paraffinic kerosene
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U2 - 10.1021/acssuschemeng.4c06748
DO - 10.1021/acssuschemeng.4c06748
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85212603696
SN - 2168-0485
VL - 13
SP - 212
EP - 219
JO - ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering
JF - ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering
IS - 1
ER -