Catalytic hydrogenation of straight vegetable oil using NiMo/ Al2O3 catalyst for biodiesel production

Center for Energy Resources and Chemical Industry, Agency for The Assessment and Application of Technology, Building 625, PUSPIPTEK, Serpong Tangerang Selatan Indonesia

^* Coresponding author: sd.sumbogo@bppt.go.id

Abstract

The attractiveness of biodiesel as an alternative fuel compared to fossil fuels because it has many advantages such as the availability of abundant raw materials, more environmentally friendly, high combustion efficiency, low sulphur content, high cetane number and biodegradability. Making biodiesel from straight vegetable oil (VGO) has been done through the catalytic hydrogenation process. A VGO of callophylum inophyllum oil was treated via degumming and neutralisation to remove all impurities before hydroprocessing. Hydroprocessing was carried out in a 500ml autoclave at 30 – 50 MPa of initial hydrogen pressure, 300 – 400oC of reaction temperature and equipped with stirrer and cooling system. NiMo/Al2O3 catalyst was activated with CS2 mixture at 370oC prior to the reaction. Some physical and chemical properties of the catalytic hydroprocessing product have been investigated in accordance to ASTM standard. The measurement result of product varies according to the operation condition. The result showed that callophyllum inophyllum oil can be used as raw material for biodiesel production over NiMo/Al2O3. Sulfided NiMo/Al2O3 catalysts are preferred due to high diesel yield.