Hydrocracking of non-edible vegetable oil and waste cooking oils for the production of light hydrocarbon fuels: A review

The high demand for biofuels by surfacing economies with environmental issues has resulted in a more in-depth search for new biofuel feedstocks. Non-edible oils have become the centre of investigation as biofuel feedstocks since they do not compete with food sources. This review evaluates hydrocracking as a biofuel production method and further elucidates different feedstocks, the effects of hydrocracking catalysts, and operating parameters to obtain optimum yields and selectivity of desired products. The bifunctional catalyst mechanism is also explained. The hydrocracking technique is found to be more advantageous than other biofuel production techniques such as transesterification and pyrolysis due to its ability to produce valuable products of better quality and with higher yields. Coke formation is one of the challenges faced by hydrocracking despite that it can be reduced by high hydrogen pressure; this will increase the cost of the entire process. Hydrocracking of sunflower oil to biofuel production. image