Influence of Nickel-Loaded Catalysts on the Production of Aviation Fuel Blendstocks by Co-Oligomerization of C2–C4 Olefins

Light olefins (C_2–C₄) produced via the Methanol-to-Olefins (MtO) process can be transformed via co-oligomerization into aviation fuels employing metal-loaded solid acid catalysts. In this study, the influence of nickel-loaded silica-alumina (Siralox-40 HPV) on the production of jet fuel and the resulting fuel properties is evaluated. The feedstock is a typical MtO surrogate comprising ethylene, propylene, and 1-butylene in a ratio of 40:40:20 mol%. The nickel loading is varied from 0 to 4 wt% at 160 °C, 40 bar pressure, a WHSV of 4 h⁻¹ and 75 h time on stream. After distillation and hydrogenation, the share of kerosene is 54 wt% for all catalysts and fuel properties can be influenced by nickel loading. Several important fuel properties are determined, and many of them are within the specifications of ASTM D7566-22a Annex 5, so that the synthesized kerosene could be implemented in fuel blends. The fuels are also characterized by Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy to complement the fuel properties. The influence of nickel on product formation is discussed, and a nickel loading of 2 wt% is advantageous in terms of highest and stable ethylene and propylene conversion as well as linearity of the products.