Iron Catalyzed Hydrodecarboxylation of Fatty Acids from Vegetable Oils for Drop-in Biofuel Production

An iron-catalyzed hydrodecarboxylation procedure was developed to produce drop-in biofuels from redox-active esters directly derived from vegetable oils. A commercially available iron salt (Fe(acac)₃) was employed as a homogeneous catalyst and phenylsilane (PhSiH₃) as an alternative hydrogen source under mild reaction conditions (room temperature, ambient pressure, 1 h). After  optimization, the method enabled renewable hydrocarbon formation with conversions >88% and yields up to 89%. Furthermore, a one-pot procedure was applied to simplify the entire process. In addition, the method was successfully applied to a variety of fatty acid mixtures from a wide range of vegetable oils, such as palm, coconut, babassu, safflower, licuri’s and waste coking oil, affording 60%-95% conversions and 15%-94% hydrocarbon yields. This approach represents a promising alternative to well-established deoxygenation processes, promoting the production of biofuels derived from renewable and clean sources.