Synthetic fuels

摘要

A synthetic fuel of structure I (branched ester) may be useful as an alternative to diesel. n may be 3-16; m may be 3-16. The fuel may have zero sulphur content, zero aromatics content and zero olefin content. The branched ester may be produced by the following process:

(i) Dimerise an alkyl alcohol using the Guerbet reaction to produce a branched alcohol;

(ii) Oxidise to give branched acids (Guerbet acids);

(iii) Esterify in the presence of an acid catalyst to give the branched ester.