Catalytic hydrocracking of jatropha oil over natural clay for bio-jet fuel production (original) (raw)

Currently, the conversion of biomass to produce high-valued biofuels such as biodiesel and biojet fuel has attached booming interests, when used for partial replacement of petroleum fuels in different ratios is a promising solution due to the problem of depleting petroleum reserves and environmental purposes. Non-edible Jatropha oil can be transformed to biofuel when subjected to were hydrocracking at hydrogen pressure using an activated natural clay as a catalyst in a high pressure batch reactor. The type of product and its quality and quantity depend on the process conditions such as reaction time, temperature, and catalyst type, form, and amount. The present work aims to study the hydrocracking process of Jatropha oil at different operating conditions. The catalyst is characterized using SEM, FTIR, XRF, and XRD. The effect of process conditions variation have been studied and discussed. The results showed the highest yield of 40% bio-jet fuel was achieved at a temperature of 350 °C, H 2 pressure of 4 bar, and reaction time of 18 min. the bio-jet fuel products were tested and their specifications were conformed to ASTM D1655 specifications, viz the freezing point (−56 °C), the flash point (53 °C), and existent gum content (5.9 mg/100 ml). Abbreviations H 2 Hydrogen gas B The Egyptian Bentonite clay MB Modified Bentonite clay ASTM American Society for Testing and Materials XRF X-ray fluorescence XRD X-ray Powder Diffraction FTIR Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy BET Brunauer, Emmett and Teller surface area Several challenges face the demand and supply of energy in the world. The increase in petroleum fuel consumption worldwide affects fossil fuel reserves. The daily global total consumption of petroleum reached 99.56 million barrels in 2022. The estimated petroleum oil reserves will be drained in less than fifty years, at the current consumption rate of 2.7% annually 1,2. Also, the emissions that are exhausted from fossil fuels combustion are large contributors to global warming and environmental pollution 3-5. Environmental awareness, depletion of fossil fuels and the increase in energy consumption and price‫‬ are the main factors leading to the search for alternative energy resources to substitute fossil‫‬ fuels 4,6-8. Renewable energy sources decrease the effect of greenhouse gases and are superior to fossil fuels with respect to their lower SO x , CO , and CO 2 emissions 9. Representative renewable energy source technologies include fuel‫‬ cells, hydropower, solar power, geothermal energy, wind power, biofuel, and hydrogen production 10,11. Biojetfuel is‫‬ one of the most important sources of renewable and green energy expected to gradually replace fossil fuels in the near future with increased blending ratios. It is anticipated to reach 25% in 2020, 30% in 2030, and 50% in 2050 12-15. Biofuels can be produced from several agricultural raw materials, through different production methods depending on the required final products and feedstock 16. These are mainly vegetable oil based and biomass. Vegetable oil-based feedstock includes edible and non-edible oils, waste cooking oil, jatropha, jojoba, rapeseed, castor and microalgal oil. Biomass feedstock includes waste materials, aquatic biomass, energy crops, and forest products 9,10,14,17 .