Castor biogasoline via catalytic cracking over activated Ni–Zn/activated natural zeolite catalyst

Abstract

Synthesizing biogasoline from castor oil was catalyzed by Activated Natural Zeolite (ANZ) catalyst modified Ni and Zn metals in batch-cracking reactor. The process was affected by the modified catalyst on variation of Ni:Zn ratio (1:1, 1:2, and 2:1) at the calcination temperature of 500 °C, and variation of the calcination temperature (500, 600, and 700 °C) At Ni–Zn (1:1). After characterizations and analysis, the higher the calcination temperature, the lower the acidity of the catalyst caused the resulting yield also decreases. The density of the product obtained ranged from 0.765–0.83 g/mL, the viscosity ranged from 1.42–1.95, the refractive index was 1.421–1.431, and the calorific value tested on the cracking product with Ni:Zn (1:1) (500 °C) Fraction I, Fraction II, and Fraction III were 0.9966 kcal/kg, 0.9068 kcal/kg, and 0.8755 kcal/kg, respectively. The results of FTIR and GC–MS showed that the composition of the catalytic cracking product was composed of C₆–C₁₄ hydrocarbons consisting of aldehydes, alkanes, alkenes, and carboxylic acids. The composition was dominated by biogasoline compounds (C₅–C₁₂).