Production of renewable jet fuel and gasoline range hydrocarbons from catalytic pyrolysis of soapstock over corn cob-derived activated carbons

Abstract

Selective production of jet fuel and gasoline range hydrocarbons from waste soapstock was achieved for the first time by catalytic pyrolysis over activated carbon catalyst that was prepared via pyrolysis of H3PO4-impregnated corn cob pyrolysis. Experimental results exhibited that the concentration of H3PO4 played an important role in acid groups and porous properties of prepared activated carbon catalyst. The obtained catalyst had a remarkable catalytic performance for C8–C16 aromatics formation with the highest selectivity of 89.97% in the bio-oil. In the meantime, the selectivities of jet fuel and gasoline range hydrocarbons could reach up to 98.78% and 91.03%, respectively. The bio-gas yield was improved with the increase in H3PO4 concentration, pyrolysis temperature and feedstock/activated carbon catalyst ratio, and the highest concentration of H2 (69.90 vol%) was achieved. The optimal reaction condition was at a pyrolysis temperature of 500 °C with a soapstock/ACC4 ratio of 1:1.5. In addition, a possible reaction mechanism was proposed for catalytic pyrolysis of soapstock over activated carbon catalyst. The current work might provide a novel, facile and efficient pathway to directly convert waste soapstock into valuable drop-in jet fuel and gasoline together with production of H2-rich syngas.