Continuous Catalytic Deoxygenation of Waste Free Fatty Acid-Based Feeds to Fuel-Like Hydrocarbons Over a Supported Ni-Cu Catalyst

Authors

Ryan Loe, University of KentuckyFollow
Yasmeen Lavoignat, University of KentuckyFollow
Miranda Maier, University of KentuckyFollow
Mohanad Abdallah, University of KentuckyFollow
Tonya Morgan, University of KentuckyFollow
Dali Qian, University of KentuckyFollow
Robert Pace, University of KentuckyFollow
Eduardo Santillan-Jimenez, University of KentuckyFollow
Mark Crocker, University of KentuckyFollow

Abstract

While commercial hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) processes convert fats, oils, and grease (FOG) to fuel-like hydrocarbons, alternative processes based on decarboxylation/decarbonylation (deCO_x) continue to attract interest. In this contribution, the activity of 20% Ni-5% Cu/Al₂O₃ in the deCO_x of waste free fatty acid (FFA)-based feeds—including brown grease (BG) and an FFA feed obtained by steam stripping a biodiesel feedstock—was investigated, along with the structure-activity relationships responsible for Ni promotion by Cu and the structural evolution of catalysts during use and regeneration. In eight-hour experiments, near quantitative conversion of the aforementioned feeds to diesel-like hydrocarbons was achieved. Moreover, yields of diesel-like hydrocarbons in excess of 80% were obtained at all reaction times during a BG upgrading experiment lasting 100 h, after which the catalyst was successfully regenerated in situ and found to display improved performance during a second 100 h cycle. Insights into this improved performance were obtained through characterization of the fresh and spent catalyst, which indicated that metal particle sintering, alloying of Ni with Cu, and particle enrichment with Cu occur during reaction and/or catalyst regeneration.

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-30-2019

Notes/Citation Information

Published in Catalysts, v. 9, issue 2, 123, p. 1-24.

© 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.3390/catal9020123

Funding Information

This work was supported in part by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under grant nos. 1437604, 1531637, and 1444779, as well as by a research support grant from the University of Kentucky Office of the Vice-President for Research.

Related Content

The following are available online at http://www.mdpi.com/2073-4344/9/2/123/s1. Figure S1: GC analysis of gas samples in the deoxygenation of BG lipids at (a) 325 °C and (b) 375 °C.

Repository Citation

Loe, Ryan; Lavoignat, Yasmeen; Maier, Miranda; Abdallah, Mohanad; Morgan, Tonya; Qian, Dali; Pace, Robert; Santillan-Jimenez, Eduardo; and Crocker, Mark, "Continuous Catalytic Deoxygenation of Waste Free Fatty Acid-Based Feeds to Fuel-Like Hydrocarbons Over a Supported Ni-Cu Catalyst" (2019). Center for Applied Energy Research Faculty and Staff Publications. 27.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/caer_facpub/27