Ethanol-Oriented CO2 Hydrogenation for Alcoholto-Jet Sustainable Aviation Fuels: Catalyst Design and Fixed-Bed Performance Benchmarking
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) is expected to play a central role in aviation decarbonization because long-range flights will continue to depend on energy-dense, infrastructure-compatible liquid fuels. Among available SAF pathways, alcohol-to-jet (ATJ) routes connect oxygenated intermediates with established upgrading technologies for jet-range hydrocarbons. In this context, alcohol-oriented thermocatalytic CO 2 hydrogenation could provide an upstream platform for SAF production when coupled with low-carbon H 2 . However, catalytic studies have largely been evaluated using reaction-centered metrics, while the downstream implications of alcohol identity have received less critical attention. This Review positions ethanol synthesis within the broader landscape of methanol and higher alcohol synthesis and examines how alcohol identity affects carbon-chain construction, deoxygenation and hydrogen requirements, separation burden, and pathway compatibility. Ethanol is adopted as the central reference intermediate because it balances upstream synthetic accessibility with downstream ATJ relevance. To establish a data-centered benchmark, ethanol-forming catalyst performance reported over the past two decades under continuous-flow fixed-bed conditions is critically compiled and normalized. Where the source data permit, EtOH selectivity is recalculated on a common total-carbon basis and catalyst-mass-normalized EtOH space-time yield (STY) is derived using a consistent definition. Comparison of noble-metal, Co-based, Cu-based, and Fe/Zn/alkali multielement and tandem catalysts reveals a common design logic in which multifunctional site ensembles, engineered interfaces, and promoter/support effects define the ethanol-forming window. By linking fixed-bed catalytic evidence with downstream ATJ requirements, this Review provides a framework for evaluating CO 2 -to-ethanol catalysts as components of SAF-oriented alcohol platforms.
Source: ChemRxiv
Authors: Zenghao Wei, Jinjian Pan, Takuma Sato, Hiroki Miura, Tetsuya Shishido
Language: English
Subfield: Catalysis
Field: Chemical Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7207737287