Catalytic upgrading of crude tall oil into a paraffin-rich liquid

Abstract

Catalytic upgrading via hydrotreatment is an essen- tial method to produce paraffin-range renewable feedstocks from bio-derived oils. This research approach studies the catalytic hydrotreating of crude tall oil (CTO) over a sulfided NiMo catalyst under industrial-relevant conditions in order to produce hydrocarbon fraction, a steam cracker feed with maximum amount of paraffins and high degree of deoxygen- ation. Initial activity of the catalyst (6 h of time on stream) has been investigated, and we report that hydrotreating experiments at most favorable tested conditions (weight hourly space velocity, WHSV=1 h �1 and T=350-400 °C) produces hydrocarbon fraction with 45 wt% of paraffins (n-alkanes+i-alkanes). The highest degree of deoxygen- ation (91 %) was achieved at WHSV=1 h �1 and T=350 °C. Furthermore, the potential of hydrotreated CTO for steam cracking applications has been assessed in this study in view of the achieved product distribution and degree of deoxygen- ation from the hydrotreating of CTO.