Triglyceride of Kapok seed Oil to biofuel over a synthesised Cu-Mo supported HZSM-5 catalyst

Abstract

In this study, triglyceride of kapok seed (Ceiba pentandra) oil was catalytic hydrocracking (T = 350°C, P = 10-20 bar) to biofuel production using Cu-Mo supported HZSM-5 (Cu-Mo/HZSM-5_51) as the catalyst. The catalyst was synthesized using incipient wetness impregnation. The obtained catalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) method. The catalyst performance on catalytic hydrocracking of kapok seed oil using CuMo/HZSM-5 with ratio molar for Cu:Mo is 1:1 and loading 5%wt. The catalytic evaluation results indicate that for the employed conditions gasoil was the major product. The biofuel fraction formed consisted of 0.98 area% of gasoline, kerosene range of alkanes as much as 1.55 area% and gas-oil range of alkane as much as 1.14 area% at 350°C over Cu-Mo/HZSM-5_51. Triglycerides of kapok seed oil can be cracked by catalytic hydrocracking process to carboxylic acid as much as 78.78 area% by hydrogenation reaction using Cu-Mo/HZSM-5_51 catalyst. The catalyst is proved to be effective for the conversion triglyceride of kapok seed oil to corresponding biofuel gasoil range.