Renewable biofuel production from hydrocracking of soybean biodiesel with a commercial petroleum Ni-W catalyst

ABSTRACT

As a potential hydrocarbon production method, the hydrocracking of soybean biodiesel, using a commercial petroleum hydrocracking catalyst, was studied. Experiments were carried out in a 1,000 mL, high-pressure autoclave for 2–4 hr over the temperature range of 200–280°C under an initial hydrogen pressure of 10 MPa. Hydrocracking of soybean biodiesel produced n-paraffins in the C₈–C₁₇ boiling range, which includes both green gasoline and diesel. Both pressure and temperature play important roles in the transformation of soybean biodiesel. Hydrocarbons can be formed above 220°C with a liquid yield of 81.76%. The n-alkanes content of the liquid product reached 32.29% at 280°C, with 88.32% C₁₁–C₁₄ selectivity. In addition, hydrocracking results in many changes of catalyst such as physical properties, morphology, etc. For the used catalyst, the concentrations of Ni and C increased, and the pore channels were significantly reduced.

KEYWORDS:

• Biofuel hydrocracking
• liquid product
• selectivity
• soybean biodiesel

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to State Forestry Administration (2012-03) and China Ministry of Education (NCET-07-0082) for financial support to this research.