PNNL part of Virgin Atlantic Airlines' plan to fly on biofuels

The Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory has been working with industry partner, LanzaTech, to convert alcohols derived from captured carbon monoxide, a byproduct in the production of steel, into synthetic paraffinic kerosene, a non-fossil-based jet fuel. The technology not only provides a viable source of sustainable jet fuel but also reduces the amount of greenhouse gasses emitted into the atmosphere.

PNNL has licensed its catalytic conversion process to LanzaTech. During the second stage of their process, ethanol is run through a PNNL-developed catalyst that converts ethanol to jet fuel by removing the oxygen and combining hydrocarbons. To control the reactions, PNNL borrowed technology it developed to convert methanol to gasoline and created a new, specialized catalyst. The catalyst first removes water from the ethanol, leaving behind ethylene. The small ethylene hydrocarbons are then combined to form hydrocarbon chains large enough for jet fuel without forming aromatics that lead to sooting when burned.