Catalytic Upgrading of Residual Fat Pyrolysis Vapors over Activated Carbon Pellets into Hydrocarbons-like Fuels in a Two-Stage Reactor: Analysis of Hydrocarbons Composition and Physical-Chemistry Properties

• Published in: Energies (Basel) Vol. 15; no. 13; p. 4587
• Main Authors: Bernar, Lucas Pinto, Ferreira, Caio Campos, Costa, Augusto Fernando de Freitas, Ribeiro, Haroldo Jorge da Silva, dos Santos, Wenderson Gomes, Pereira, Lia Martins, Pereira, Anderson Mathias, Moraes, Nathalia Lobato, Assunção, Fernanda Paula da Costa, Mota, Sílvio Alex Pereira da, de Castro, Douglas Alberto Rocha, Santos, Marcelo Costa, Mendonça, Neyson Martins, Duvoisin, Sergio, Borges, Luiz Eduardo Pizarro, Machado, Nélio Teixeira
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01-07-2022
• Subjects: Acids; Activated carbon; activated carbon pellets; Alcohol; Alcohols; Aldehydes; Alkanes; Alkenes; Atmosphere; Biomass; Carboxylic acids; catalyst bed reactor; Catalysts; Catalytic cracking; chemical activation; Chemical composition; Esters; Experiments; Hydrocarbons; Ketones; Kinematic viscosity; Kinematics; Laboratories; Lipids; liquid hydrocarbons; Metal oxides; Microwaves; Pellets; Phenols; Physical chemistry; Physicochemical properties; Pyrolysis; Ratios; Reaction products; Reaction time; Reactors; residual fat; Seeds; Selectivity; Sodium hydroxide; thermal catalytic cracking; Vapors; Viscosity
• ISSN: 1996-1073; 1996-1073
• DOI: 10.3390/en15134587

This work investigated the influence of the reaction time and catalyst-to-residual fat ratio by catalytic upgrading from pyrolysis vapors of residual fat at 400 °C and 1.0 atmosphere, on the yields of reaction products, physicochemical properties (density, kinematic viscosity, and acid value) and chemical composition of bio-oils, over a catalyst fixed-bed reactor of activated carbon pellets impregnated with 10.0 M NaOH, in semi-pilot scale. The experiments were carried out at 400 °C and 1.0 atmosphere, using a process schema consisting of a thermal cracking reactor of 2.0 L coupled to a catalyst fixed-bed reactor of 53 mL, without catalyst and using 5.0%, 7.5%, and 10.0% (wt.) activated carbon pellets impregnated with 10.0 M NaOH, in batch mode. Results show yields of bio-oil decreasing with increasing catalyst-to-tallow ratio. The GC-MS of liquid reaction products identified the presence of hydrocarbons (alkanes, alkenes, ring-containing alkanes, ring-containing alkenes, and aromatics) and oxygenates (carboxylic acids, ketones, esters, alcohols, and aldehydes). For all the pyrolysis and catalytic cracking experiments, the hydrocarbon selectivity in bio-oil increases with increasing reaction time, while those of oxygenates decrease, reaching concentrations of hydrocarbons up to 95.35% (area).