Production of Sustainable Aviation Fuel Precursor from Furanics Using High Surface Area Ordered Mesoporous Sulfonic Acid Functionalized Silica

The present work demonstrated the efficacy of high surface area ordered mesoporous sulfonic acid functionalized silica (SO3H-SiO2) as a solid-acid catalyst for the furfural-2-methylfuran hydroxyalkylation–alkylation reaction to obtain a branched-chain C15 sustainable aviation fuel precursor. Bare silica and SO3H-SiO2 with up to 15 mol % −SO3H loading showed an ordered mesoporous structure. Brønsted acidity and acid density proliferated with enhanced −SO3H loadings, upholding consistent Lewis acidity. The catalytic efficacy of SO3H-SiO2 was thus enhanced at elevated −SO3H loadings. The SO3H-SiO2 also exhibited promising regeneration and reusability with minimal leaching of acidic functionality. The 2-methylfuran conversion was 78.4% at 300 min under optimum reaction conditions (323 K and 2:1 2-methylfuran/furfural mole ratio) using SO3H-SiO2 with 15 mol % −SO3H. An empirical second order kinetic model was developed to correlate 2-methylfuran conversion with an activation energy of 45.5 kJ/mol. The 2-methylfuran/furfural mole ratio results were used to validate the kinetic model.