Hydrocarbon fuels from vegetable oils via hydrolysis and thermo-catalytic decarboxylation

• Published in: Fuel (Guildford) 2012-05, Vol.95, p.622-629
• Main Authors: Wang, Wei-Cheng, Thapaliya, Nirajan, Campos, Andrew, Stikeleather, Larry F., Roberts, William L.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Biofuel production; Deoxygenation; Energy; Energy. Thermal use of fuels; Exact sciences and technology; Free fatty acid; Fuels; Hydrocarbon fuels; Hydrolysis
• ISSN: 0016-2361; 1873-7153
• DOI: 10.1016/j.fuel.2011.12.041

► Converting vegetable oil into hydrocarbon fuel using hydrolysis and decarboxylation. ► The free fatty acid conversion from hydrolysis has yielded at 99.7%. ► The decarboxylation average rate was determined as 15.5mmoles/min. ► The cold flow properties of the fuel was improved using isomerization process. Conversion of canola oil to normal alkane hydrocarbons was investigated using sequential reactions: continuous thermal hydrolysis and fed-batch thermo-catalytic decarboxylation. The free fatty acid (FFA) intermediate product from hydrolysis was quantified using GC–FID, which showed 99.7% conversion and the following components: palmitic, oleic, linoleic, linolenic, stearic, arachidic and behenic acids. The FFA was saturated then decarboxylated at an average rate of 15.5mmoles/min using a 5% Pd/C catalyst at 300°C. Approximately 90% decarboxylation conversion to n-alkanes was achieved within 5h of the reaction. The resulting mixture of n-alkanes can be readily converted into renewable diesel using isomerization to improve the cold flow properties of the fuel.