Fuel production from alcohols

A method of making a fuel comprising oligo(alkanes)n, comprising:

• adding an alcohol to a reactor with a zinc dihalide salt and heating the reactor to reflux, thereby forming a mixture comprising water and oligo(alkenes)n;
• removing water from the mixture using azeotropic distillation to obtain a water-lean mixture;
• distilling the water-lean mixture, thereby forming a stream comprising oligo(alkenes)n and residual alcohol, wherein n ranges from 2 to 12;
• distilling the stream comprising oligo(alkenes)n and the residual alcohol with fractionation, thereby forming a first fraction, a second fraction, a third fraction, and removing the residual alcohol, wherein:
• the first fraction includes oligo(alkenes)n with n ranging from 2 to 4;
• the second fraction includes oligo(alkenes)n with n ranging from 4 to 8;
• and
• the third fraction includes oligo(alkenes)n with n ranging from 8 to 12;
• and
• hydrogenating the first fraction, the second fraction, and the third fraction individually, thereby forming oligo(alkanes)n, wherein:
• the first fraction includes oligo(alkanes)n with n ranging from 2 to 4;
• the second fraction includes oligo(alkanes)n with n ranging from 4 to 8;
• and
• the third fraction includes oligo(alkanes)n with n ranging from 8 to 12.