CATALYTIC CONVERSION OF CANOLA OIL TO FUELS AND CHEMICALS OVER VARIOUS CRACKING CATALYSTS

The catalytic conversion of canola oil to fuels and chemicals was studied over HZSM-5, II-mordenite, H-Y, silicalite, aluminum-pillared clay (AL-PILC) and silica-alumina catalysts in a fixed bed micro-reactor. The reactor was operated at atmospheric pressure, a temperature range of 375-500 degrees C and weight hourly space velocity (WHSV) of 1.8 and 3.6 h(-1). An organic liquid product (OLP), light hydrocarbon gases and water were the major products. The objective was to maximize the amount of OLP and its hydrocarbon content as well as optimize the selectivity for gas phase olefinic hydrocarbons. In addition, the performance of each catalyst in terms of minimizing the coke formation was examined. Among the six catalysts, HZSM-5 gave the highest amount of OLP of 63 mass% at 1.8 WHSV and 400 degrees C. The hydrocarbon content of this OLP product was 83.8 mass %. With the exception of silica-alumina and aluminum-pillared clay catalysts, the other catalysts gave high concentrations of aromatic hydrocarbons which ranged between 23.1-95.6 mass% of OLP. The gas products consisted mostly C-3 and C-4 hydrocarbons. Ethylene, propylene and butanes were some of the valuable hydrocarbon gases. The olefin/paraffin ratio of the gas products was highest for AL-PILC catalysts but it never exceeded unity. The results showed that it was possible to significantly alter the yield and selectivity for the different hydrocarbon products by using different catalysts or changing the catalyst functionality such as acidity, pore size and crystallinity. Reaction pathways based on these results are proposed for the conversion of canola oil.