Production of hydroprocessed renewable diesel from Jatropha oil and evaluation of its properties

Abstract

Alternative fuel research is primarily motivated by the expeditious depletion in fossil fuel supplies and the need to fulfill rigorous emission regulations, particularly greenhouse gas (GHG) emission for modern diesel engines. Hydroprocessed (or Hydrogenated) renewable diesel (HRD) is seen takes the one’s place with possible option for replacement of fuels for Diesel engines in the hunt for a substitute to fossils based petroleum diesel from diverse sustainable feedstocks such as vegetable oils from non-edible seeds, animal fats or algae oil. Because when we compare cetane number for HRD and petro diesel, it is higher for HRD than the other, which is seen as a probable drop in alternate fuels for compression ignition engines. During production of renewable diesel Hydro-deoxygenation is done first with the help of a catalyst and hydrogen gas, which may be used to upgrade bio-oil instead of hydro-desulfurization (removing of sulphur derivatives from the crude vegetable oil). A sulfided Nickel Molybdenum (NiMo) or Cobalt Molybdenum (CoMo) catalyst based on gamma alumina is utilised as a reference catalyst for HDO in the generation of renewable diesel and is used as a standard catalyst for a hydro-desulfurization process in refineries. Jatropha oil may be thoroughly transformed into paraffins in the diesel range at a pressure of 40 to 90 bar. The obtained product includes gases and different products therefore, it is then transferred for fractional distillation which gets separated at different boiling temperatures. The Physicochemical properties of a hydroprocessed renewable paraffinic fuel were assessed and compared to Biodiesel and traditional petro diesel. The major properties of hydroprocessed renewable diesel like cetane number, flash point and pour point were higher compared that of petroleum diesel, whereas kinematic viscosity and thermal stability was almost similar for both HRD and diesel.