Abstract
The purposes of this study are to investigate the effect of metal (Co and Mo) impregnation to ZSM-5 catalysts on the Brønsted to Lewis (B/L) ratio as the active sites of cracking reaction, and the catalysts’ performance testing for palm oil cracking to produce hydrocarbon-rich biofuels. Both metals were impregnated on the ZSM-5 catalyst using a wet-impregnation method. The catalysts were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray Fluorescence (XRF), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET), and Pyridine-probed Fourier-Transform Infrared (Py-FTIR) spectroscopy methods. The catalysts were tested on the cracking process of palm oil to biofuels in a continuous fixed-bed catalytic reactor. In order to determine the composition of the organic liquid product (OLP, biofuels), the product was analyzed using a gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) method. The results showed that the co-impregnation of Co and Mo to ZSM-5 highly increased the Brønsted to Lewis acid site (B/L) ratio, although the total number of acid sites decreased. However, the impregnation of Co and Mo on the ZSM-5 decreased the surface area of catalysts due to pore blocking by metals, while the B/L ratio of the catalysts increased. It was obtained that by utilizing Co- and Mo-impregnated ZSM-5 catalysts, the hydrocarbons product selectivity increased from 84.32% to 95.26%; however, the yield of biofuels decreased from 67.57% to 41.35%. The increase in hydrocarbons product selectivity was caused by the improvement of the Brønsted to Lewis (B/L) acid sites ratio.
Highlights
We are facing the fact that the energy demand is increasing
One of the most developed vegetable oil-based biofuels is produced via the catalytic cracking process of palm oil [1,2]
Biofuels are environmentally friendly because biofuels that are produced through catalytic cracking of vegetable oil have no pollutants, such as sulfur, nitrogen, and heavy metals [3]
Summary
We are facing the fact that the energy demand is increasing. Nowadays, fossil-based fuels are still the primary energy that supplies the daily energy demand. It is important to develop a renewable, sustainable, environmentally friendly energy resource to supply the energy demand. Biofuel appears to be a promising energy resource to substitute, or at least to support, the fossil fuels energy resource. It is renewable and sustainable since it is produced through biomass conversion, such as vegetable oil. One of the most developed vegetable oil-based biofuels is produced via the catalytic cracking process of palm oil [1,2]. Biofuels are environmentally friendly because biofuels that are produced through catalytic cracking of vegetable oil have no pollutants, such as sulfur, nitrogen, and heavy metals [3]. Since biofuels have no sulfur and nitrogen-containing compounds that can be released to the environment as SOx and NOx [3], the combustion process of these biofuels produces better emissions than fossil fuels
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