Operationally simple electrochemical method for the conversion of acetone into high-specification jet fuel

There is currently a demand for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) that far exceeds supply. For this reason, a flurry of activity in the field of sustainable chemistry has centered around the development of workable technologies to convert biobased feedstocks into drop-in replacements for hydrocarbon fuels. Here, a simple, practical method is described that converts acetone, a biobased platform molecule that can be derived via multiple sustainable pathways, into a jet fuel that exceeds the specifications of commercial Jet A. The process involves dimerization of acetone to mesityl oxide, which is then processed in a biphasic, undivided electrochemical cell to give a combination of electrochemical coupling and condensation products. The resulting oxygenate is then hydrotreated to yield a mixture of highly branched alkanes and cycloalkanes.