Received 29 June 2016
Revised 26 October 2016 Accepted 10 November 2016 Available online 9 December 2016
Keywords:
Catalytic cracking
Soap phase residue Neutralization of palm oil Distillation, Gasoline
1. Introduction
During the refining (chemical and physical) process of veg- etable oils, a complex mixture of mono-, di-, and triglycerides and minor fat-soluble compounds (carotenes, tocopherols, squa- lene, sterols, fatty alcohols, waxes, etc.), the minor compounds are removed [1–4]. The removal of fat-soluble compounds from veg- etable oils to produce refined edible oils is necessary, as most of these compounds may be detrimental to the flavor, oxidative sta- bility, and physical appearance of refined oil [1–4]. Thus, signifi- cant amounts of salts of carboxylic acids (soap) [5–9], fatty acid deodorizer distillates [10–12], and acid process water are gener- ated as by-products of vegetable oils refining process [6,13]. Among
∗ Corresponding author at: Fax: 0055-9132017291.
E-mail addresses: marceloenqui@bol.com.br, machado@ufpa.br (N.T. Machado).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jtice.2016.11.016
abstract
In this work, the soap phase residue of neutralization process of palm oil (Elaeis guineensis Jacq) submit- ted to catalytic cracking to produce gasoline-like hydrocarbons fuels. The cracking reaction carried out in a stirred tank reactor of 143 L, operating in batch mode at 440 °C and 1.0 atmosphere, using 15% (wt.) Na2CO3 as catalyst. The organic liquid products (OLP) yield 71.34% (wt.) with an acid value of 1.07mg KOH/g and kinematic viscosity of 1.90mm2s−1, matching sulfur content, copper strip corrosion, flash point, viscosity and density of ANP (Brazilian Petroleum Agency) N° 65 for diesel S10. The distillation of OLP carried out in laboratory scale according to the boiling temperature range of fossil fuels, yielding 6.69% (wt.) gasoline, 12.77% (wt.) kerosene, 15.52% (wt.) light diesel, and 38.02% heavy diesel-like hydro- carbons fuels, showing that Na2CO3 was more selective to convert salts of carboxylic acids into diesel-like hydrocarbons fuels. The GC–MS analysis showed that OLP is composed by 91.59% (wt.) hydrocarbons and 8.41% (wt.) oxygenates. The gasoline-like hydrocarbons fraction composed by 100% hydrocarbons with an acid value of 1.69mg KOH/g and kinematic viscosity of 0.83 mm2s−1, matches many physicochemical parameters of ANP N° 40 for gasoline A, proving the technical feasibility of catalytic cracking process.