A study on biofuel produced by catalytic cracking of mustard and castor oil using porous Hβ and AlMCM-41 catalysts.

Biofuel is the only novel solution to the increase in the greenhouse effect and bursting energy demand. The catalytic cracking of non-edible vegetable oils, namely castor and mustard was studied to yield gasoline range (C5-C9) hydrocarbons. Hβ (Microporous; pore size <2 nm) and AlMCM-41 (Mesoporous; pore size 2 nm-50 nm) materials with different Si/Al ratios were used as catalysts for cracking purposes. Characterization of these catalysts was done by X-ray diffraction, Surface area analyzer, nitrogen sorption studies, TPD and inductively coupled plasma techniques. Used mustard oil was cracked over AlMCM-41 catalysts in a fixed bed catalytic cracking unit at optimized reaction condition (400 °C, 4.6 h) obtained over Hβ. The liquid and gaseous products were analyzed using gas chromatograph (Shimadzu GC-9A). Among the mesoporous catalysts AlMCM-41 (27) was able to convert 75% of mustard oil into 48% of bioliquid and 30.4% selectivity towards BG. Pongamia, neem, castor, fresh coconut and used coconut oil was also cracked using AlMCM-41 (27) catalyst. The major products of cracking reactions were Castor Bioliquid (CBL) comprising of bio gasoline (BG), bio kerosene (BK) and bio diesel (BD) with less yield of gaseous products. AlMCM-41 converted 98% of castor oil into 85% of CBL and it was tested with ASTM 6751 standard procedures for its calorific value, viscosity and flash point. The sulphur emission from CBL run engine reached lower index. The results exhibited the commercial utility of the CBL in the near future.