Catalytic cracking of used cooking oil using Chromium impregnated charcoal (Cr-charcoal) catalyst

• Published in: Journal of physics. Conference series 2020-06, Vol.1567 (2), p.22021
• Main Authors: Nazarudin, Prabasari, I G, Ulyarti, Susilawati, Oktadio, A
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biofuels; Carbon; Catalysts; Catalytic cracking; Charcoal; Chromium; Cooking; Diesel fuels; Fossil fuels; Palm oil; Physics; Renewable resources; Scanning electron microscopy
• ISSN: 1742-6588; 1742-6596
• DOI: 10.1088/1742-6596/1567/2/022021

One of the solutions for fossil fuel crisis is to find alternative energy based on renewable materials. In this research, catalytic cracking of used cooking oil has been investigated to produce biofuel using Cr-charcoal catalyst. The charcoal was produced from solid waste (shell) of palm oil industry. Chromium solutions with various concentrations (1%, 2%, and 3%) were impregnated into charcoal to produce Cr-charcoal catalyst. The catalysts were used for catalytic cracking of used cooking oil at three levels of temperature: 450°C, 500°C and 550°C. The XRD patterns and SEM images of the catalyst showed that the catalyst was in amorphous form. SEM-EDX analysis showed that the Chromium was impregnated into charcoal successfully with amount of Chromium absorbed into charcoal was 0.51%; 1.07% and 14.38% respectively. The SEM images also showed that charcoal as supported catalyst and Cr-charcoal catalyst have unique pores. The highest liquid oil fraction was obtained by catalytic cracking at 500°C using 3% Cr-Charcoal catalyst. The liquid product of this process was mainly diesel oil with 8-24 carbon atoms (86.35%) and the rest was liquid product with 6-7 carbon atoms.