Hydrothermal conversion of biomass to higher alcohol fuels for compression ignition engine

Higher alcohol (C5/C6 alcohol) blended with diesel or bio-diesel is a promising alternative clean fuel for the compression ignition engine. The most important puzzle is the technology development of biomass to higher alcohol fuels. In this paper, a novel approach of hydrothermal conversion of biomass into C5/C6 higher alcohol fuels was proposed. High yield of higher alcohol fuels was obtained from the real biomass with the C5/C6 alcohol selectivity of 77% under the mild hydrothermal conditions. The properties of the produced higher alcohol fuels are similar to that of 0# diesel. The exhaust emission of compression ignition engine decreased vigorously by blending the higher alcohol fuels with diesel at weight ratio of 20/80. (c) 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.