Performance studies of various cracking catalysts in the conversion of canola oil to fuels and chemicals in a fluidized‐bed reactor

Abstract

AbstractStudies were conducted at atmospheric pressure at temperatures in the range of 400–500°C and fluidizing gas velocities in the range of 0.37–0.58 m/min (at standard temperature and pressure) to evaluate the performance of various cracking catalysts for canola oil conversion in a fluidized‐bed reactor. Results show that canola oil conversions were high (in the range of 78–98 wt%) and increased with an increase in both temperature and catalyst acid site density and with a decrease in fluidizing gas velocity. The product distribution mostly consisted of hydrocarbon gases in the C1–C5 range, a mixture of aromatic and aliphatic hydrocarbons in the organic liquid product (OLP) and coke. The yields of C4 hydrocarbons, aromatic hydrocarbons and C2–C4 olefins increased with both temperature and catalyst acid site density but decreased with an increase in fluidizing gas velocity. In contrast, the yields of aliphatic and C5 hydrocarbons followed trends completely opposite to those of C2–C4 olefins and aromatic hydrocarbons. A comparison of performance of the catalysts in a fluidized‐bed reactor with earlier work in a fixed‐bed reactor showed that selectivities for formation of both C5 and iso‐C4 hydrocarbons in a fluidized‐bed reactor were extremely high (maximum of 68.7 and 18 wt% of the gas product) as compared to maximum selectivities of 18 and 16 wt% of the gas product, respectively, in the fixed‐bed reactor. Also, selectivity for formation of gas products was higher for runs with the fluidized‐bed reactor than for those with the fixed‐bed reactor, whereas the selectivity for OLP was higher with the fixed‐bed reactor. Furthermore, both temperature and catalyst determined whether the fractions of aromatic hydrocarbons in the OLP were higher in the fluidized‐bed or fixed‐bed reactor.