Biojet fuel production via deoxygenation of crude palm kernel oil using Pt/C as catalyst in a continuous fixed bed reactor
Montakan Makcharoen, Amaraporn Kaewchada, Nattee Akkarawatkhoosith, Attasak Jaree
Abstract
This work focused on the conversion of crude palm kernel oil (CPKO) to biojet fuel via deoxygenation reaction in a fixed bed reactor. The catalyst was Pt supported on activated carbon (Pt/C). The investigation involved the effects of various operating parameters such as reaction temperature (350–420 °C), pressure (250 and 500 psi), flow rate of CPKO (0.02 and 0.04 mL/min), flow rate of hydrogen (17.5, 35.0, and 70.0 mL/min), and the amount of catalyst (0.05 and 0.07 g) on the reaction performance and the fuel properties of product. The biojet yield of 58.29%, with the major content of linear alkane in the range of jet fuel (nC8-nC16) of 27.68% and the productivity of 9.32 g product/g catalyst·h were achieved at the optimal operating conditions (420 °C, 500 psi, CPKO flow rate at 0.02 mL/min, hydrogen flow rate at 17.50 mL/min (H2-to-CPKO molar ratio of 28.02), and 0.07 g of Pt/C catalyst). The oxygen content was reduced from 18.83% (in CPKO) to 14.96% (in the product). To improve the freezing point of biojet fuel via cracking and aromatization, the catalyst bed was modified by adding HZSM-5 as a catalyst bed adjacent to the bed of Pt/C. The freezing point of product was significantly lowered by 30 °C.