(48d) Jet Biokerosene Obtained from Babassu Vegetable Oil Using Molecular Distillation

Aviation fuels used in gas-turbine engines are mainly obtained from the distillation of mineral oil. With the increase in the consumption of jet fuels, it is becoming important to develop alternative fuels with related properties being capable of fulfilling aviation industry requirements. Aviation alternative fuel originated from sustainable raw materials must meet a set of safety requirements and should exhibit similar physicochemical properties to mineral kerosene. In this study, short-chain esters were obtained by molecular distillation of babassu oil FAME at different temperatures. A fuel with properties close to those of aviation biofuels was obtained at 140°C. At this temperature, more than 80% of the esters in the product composition were within the desired range showing yielding recoveries around 90 %wt. This stream was then blended with fossil kerosene at different concentrations and its properties were analyzed in order to study the effects of the gradual addition of this biofuel to commercial aviation kerosene. Density, heating value, freezing temperature and pour point were evaluated. A mixture up to 6.0% g/g accomplished some limit values established by ASTM D1655.