Hydrocarbon Fuel Production from Lipids with Fluid Catalytic Cracking Process

Abstract

Aiming at the production of alternative fuels and chemicals from lipids, deoxygenation of lipids in the catalytic cracking process was investigated. From the catalytic cracking experiments using a saturated triglyceride as feedstock, it was confirmed that deoxygenation as H₂O predominantly proceeds despite the introduction of no external hydrogen. The H₂O formation can be attributed to hydrogen transfer reaction that proceeds during the catalytic cracking reaction. Furthermore, the deoxygenation as H₂O by hydrogen transfer reaction proceeds in preference to the hydrogenation of olefins, which suggests that both suppression of carbon loss during the deoxygenation and production of high value-added hydrocarbons can be achieved by accelerating hydrogen transfer reaction in the catalytic cracking of lipids. Besides, the effects of the unsaturation degree and the molecular structure of feedstocks on catalytic cracking and deoxygenation are examined, and it was confirmed that the optimization of these indexes results in the acceleration of deoxygenation as H₂O with suppressing the formation of undesirable polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. These findings are expected to contribute to the development of inexpensive and efficient hydrocarbon fuel production technology from lipids using the fluid catalytic cracking process.