Catalytic conversion of castor seed oil to diesel range hydrocarbons using NiO –CuO catalyst supported on ZSM-5

Abstract

Bio-oils are an alternative fuel that can be produced from organic resources such as vegetable oils in which castor seed oil is an example. In this research work castor seed oil was converted to diesel range hydrocarbons using NiO-CuO/ZSM-5 as catalyst. The catalyst was synthesized using wet impregnation method which was characterized using Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) and Energy Dispersive X-ray Fluorescence (EDXRF). The castor seed oil was extracted by using hot water stirring method. The extracted raw oil and catalytically cracked bio-oil were also characterized by FT-IR. The optimum yield of bio-oil 80.70 % was attained at the temperature of 300 ⁰C, reaction time 60 mins and catalyst loading of 2 wt% respectively. The Bio-oil was also characterized using GC-MS to determine the molecular compositions of the raw, thermally and catalytically cracked bio-oil. However, this makes castor seed oil a good feedstock for bio-oil production with little modifications on its properties. This indicates that the products can be used as an alternative fuel in diesel engines.