Impact of Chain Length of Saturated Fatty Acids during Their Heterogeneously Catalyzed Deoxygenation

Shrikant Mohite,Udo Armbruster,Andreas Martin,Manfred Richter

doi:10.4236/jsbs.2014.43017

Shrikant Mohite, Udo Armbruster + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.4236/jsbs.2014.43017

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Abstract

Fatty acids with different chain length were deoxygenated in the absence of hydrogen (caprylic acid (CA), lauric acid (LA) and stearic acid (SA)). The catalytic tests were carried over Pd-containing catalysts out in a batch reactor under inert gas for 6 h at 250d the best performing catalyst was 10% Pd/C with 63% undecane yield at 327&degC. These catalysts were used for a comparative decarboxylation of CA, LA and SA. At equal reaction conditions (300&degC, 6 h), the chain length of the fatty acid had a strong impact on the conversion, which was steadily increasing, whereas the alkane selectivity ran through a maximum. This work demonstrated the usability of Pd-containing catalysts for the decarboxylation of various fatty acids in the absence of additionally fed hydrogen with respect to the manufacture of hydrocarbons that can be used as blending components for fuels.

Highlights

The increasing energy demand and depleting petroleum reserves stimulated the research towards finding alternatives for fossil fuels
fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) was produced in EU27 with 11.2 million metric tons per annum in 2010 [1] (16.5 million metric tons worldwide [3])
Santillan-Jimenez and Crocker report in their review on the deactivation of noble metal catalysts used for such deoxygenations and their regeneration

Summary

Introduction

The increasing energy demand and depleting petroleum reserves stimulated the research towards finding alternatives for fossil fuels. During the last ten years, plant oils from different sources increasingly have served as sustainable feed stock. FAME was produced in EU27 with 11.2 million metric tons per annum in 2010 [1] (16.5 million metric tons worldwide [3]). It makes only 4.5% of the EU27 diesel fuel consumption. Various attempts were carried out in the recent years on hydroprocessing and up-grade of biomass derived oils aiming at using such feedstock as blending component for fuels [4] [5]

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