Analysis of the organic liquid produced from catalytic cracking of crude palm oil in the presence of alumina supported catalysts

• Main Authors: Ramli, Anita, Abdul Razak, Rozlina
• Format: Book Section
• Published: American Institute of Physics 2012
• Subjects: TP Chemical technology; QD Chemistry
• Online Access: http://eprints.utp.edu.my/8663/1/Anita%26Rozlina-AIP_Proceeding_2012.pdf; http://eprints.utp.edu.my/8663/
• Institution: Universiti Teknologi Petronas

Catalytic cracking of crude palm oil (CPO) was studied in the presence of alumina, 1% Pt/Al2O3 and 1% Pd/Al2O3 as catalyst. The CPO to catalyst weight ratio used was 1:0.05. The experiment was carried out in a simple liquid-phase batch reactor at atmospheric pressure where the sample was heated to 300–350 °C. Products formed were organic liquid products (OLP) and gaseous product with the solid residue remains in the reactor. The total conversion of CPO was only between 25 – 31% where the residue is suggested to be mainly of polimerised CPO. The OLP was analysed using a gas chromatography with FID detector. Analyses show that the selectivity to liquid fuel is influence by the catalyst used whereby Al2O3 gives the highest selectivity to gasoline while 1% Pt/Al2O3 has the highest selectivity to diesel. However, 1% Pd/Al2O3 is not a suitable catalyst for catalytic cracking of CPO to liquid fuel where less than 17.5% of OLP produced could be classified as liquid fuel.