Catalytic hydrotreating of palm oil for bio-jet fuel production over Ni supported on mesoporous zeolite

Abstract

This research was focused on the bio-jet fuel production from hydroprocessing of palm oil over different types of Ni/desilicated mesoporous zeolites (Hbeta, USY, NH4-ZSM-5). Conventional zeolites were modified for mesoporous zeolites by desilication with NaOH. The zeolite supported Ni-catalysts were prepared by a wet impregnation method with 10 wt% of Ni loading. The experiments were carried out in a continuous-flow fixed-bed reactor at different conditions; temperatures of 375–475 °C and hydrogen pressures of 15–25 bar. The findings demonstrated that the reaction temperature has a strong effect on conversion of palm oil and selectivity of jet-fuel range product which has 8–16 carbon atoms per molecule. A high liquid content was achieved at the temperature and pressure of 425 °C and 25 bar, respectively. The conventional zeolite 10 wt% Ni/USY gave the highest liquid product, lowest aromatic content and highest jet-fuel range selectivity of 56.83%, 17.97% and 79.97%, respectively. Moreover, in case of modified-support catalyst, 10 wt% Ni/USY desilicated with 0.5 M NaOH can reach the higher yield of liquid product up to 58.52% and high iso-alkane selectivity. This is due to the highest amount of weak and strong acid sites.