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In this work, the soap phase residue of neutralization process of palm oil ( Elaeis guineensis Jacq) submitted 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.) Na 2 CO 3 as catalyst. The organic liquid products (OLP) yield 71.34% (wt.) with an acid value of 1.07 mg KOH/g and kinematic viscosity of 1.90 mm 2 s − 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 hydrocarbons fuels, showing that Na 2 CO 3 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 1.69 mg KOH/g and kinematic viscosity of 0.83 mm 2 s −1 , matches many physicochemical parameters of ANP N° 40 for gasoline A, proving the technical feasibility of catalytic cracking process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In this work, the fractionation of fatty acids from palm oil deodorizer distillates, a by-product of the physical refining process of palm oil, has been investigated in a laboratory scale countercurrent packed column with supercritical CO2 as solvent. Experiments were carried out at 26 and 29MPa and 373K. Phase equilibria for the mixture palm fatty acids distillates+CO2 have been investigated experimentally by the static method at 333, 353, and 373K and pressures between 20 and 29MPa. The chemical identification of free fatty acids has been performed by gas chromatography. Hydrodynamic experiments were carried out for the systems palm fatty acids distillates+CO2 at 333, 353, and 373K and pressures between 20 and 29MPa in order to compute the column hydraulic capacity. A separation analysis based on phase equilibrium data (gas loading and selectivity) as well as hydrodynamic experiments (density of the coexisting liquid–gaseous phase and column hydraulic capacity) has been performed in order to optimize the best operation conditions. Process data (solvent and feed flow rates, reflux ratio, and mass fractions in feed and product streams) as well as phase equilibrium data of the multi-compound system fatty acids/carbon dioxide were used to compute the number of stages by the McCabe-Thiele and Jänecke methods. The mass transfer efficiency of the process was analyzed in terms of HETP as a function of liquid load, solvent-to-feed ratio and reflux ratio. HETP values lies between 0.8 and 2.5m. The results show that palmitic acid was enriched from an initial content of 52.51wt.% in the feed to 74.39wt.% in the extract, while the oleic+linoleic acids were enriched from 46.27wt.% in the feed to 59.00wt.% in the raffinate showing that countercurrent gas extraction using carbon dioxide as solvent is suitable for fractionation and enriching of fatty acids from palm fatty acids distillates. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This work aims to investigate the de-acidification of organic liquid products, obtained by catalytic cracking of palm oil ( Elaeis guineensis Jacq) using Na 2 CO 3 as catalyst, by fractional distillation. The distillation of OLP carried out in laboratory, using columns of different heights with and without reflux, and in pilot scale. OLP and distillation fractions physicochemical characterized for density, kinematic viscosity, acid value, saponification value, refractive index, ester index, free fatty acids, flash point, and copper strip corrosion. The OLP analyzed by GC–MS and FT-IR, and light diesel-like fractions by FT-IR, NMR, and GC–MS. The experiments carried out in laboratory scale with and without reflux showed biofuels (distillates) yields between 62.15 and 76.41% and 71.65 and 89.44% (wt.), respectively, while that in pilot scale was 32.68% (wt.). For the experiments in laboratory scale, the yields of distillates decrease exponentially with column height, with and without reflux, while those of bottoms products increase exponentially. In addition, the yields of distillates and gas increase with increasing Na 2 CO 3 content, while that of bottom products decrease. The yield of light diesel-like fractions, with and without reflux ranged between 48.82 and 63.18, and 20.23 and 21.43% (wt.), respectively. The column height had no significant effect on the density of distillation fractions, with and without reflux. The densities of gasoline, kerosene, and light diesel with reflux, superpose exactly those of kerosene, light diesel, and heavy diesel without reflux. The kinematic viscosity of distillation fractions decreases with increasing column height for the experiments with and without reflux, while the acid values decrease. For the distillation experiments in pilot scale, the acid values of gasoline, kerosene, and light diesel-like fractions were 0.33, 0.42, and 0.34 mg KOH/g. FT-IR of distillation fractions in pilot scale and NMR of light diesel-like fraction in laboratory scale, column height of 50 cm, under reflux identified the presence of aliphatic hydrocarbons and the absence of carbonyl groups. The GC–MS analysis identified in OLP composition 92.84% (area.) hydrocarbons and 7.16% (area.) oxygenates. The light diesel-like fraction contains 100% hydrocarbons with an acid value of 0.34 mg KOH/g, density of 0.7862 g/cm 3 , and kinematic viscosity of 1.52 mm 2 s −1 , proving the feasibility of OLP de-acidification by fractional distillation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, the influence of catalyst content on the physicochemical properties (acid value, saponification value, specific gravity, kinematic viscosity, and flash point), yield and chemical composition (hydrocarbons and oxygenates) of organic liquid products (OLP) obtained by thermal-catalytic cracking of palm oil ( Elaeis guineensis , Jacq.) has been systematically investigated in technical scale. The pilot experiments were carry out in a stirred tank slurry reactor of 143 L, operating in batch mode at 450 °C and 1.0 atm, using 5, 10, 15, and 20% (wt.) Na 2 CO 3 as catalyst. The catalyst has been characterized by XRF and SEM techniques. The organic liquid products have been physicochemical characterized for acid and saponification values, specific gravity, refractive index, kinematics viscosity, copper strip corrosion, and flash point. The chemical composition of organic liquid products was determined by GC–MS. The experimental results indicate that initial cracking temperature, as well as specific gravity, kinematic viscosity, acid value, and saponification value of OLP show a tendency to decrease with increasing catalyst content. Hydrocarbons and oxygenates were the major chemical compounds present in OLP, with chemical composition strongly dependent on the catalyst content. The major hydrocarbons present in the organic liquid products have carbon chain length ranging from C 12 to C 15 and its summation shows a tendency to increase with increasing catalyst content, while the summation of oxygenate compounds shows a tendency to decrease. In addition, the distribution of hydrocarbons classes (normal paraffins, olefins, and naphthenics) present in OLP shows a maximum concentration for normal paraffins and naphthenics and a minimum concentration for olefins using 10% (wt.) Na 2 CO 3 as catalyst. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the influence of catalyst content on the physical–chemical properties, yield, and chemical composition of organic liquid products (OLP) obtained by thermal catalytic cracking of palm oil (Elaeis guineensis, Jacq.) was studied at a pilot scale. The experiments were carried out in a reactor of 143 L, running in batch mode at 450 °C and 1 atm, using 5%, 10%, 15%, and 20% (w/w) Na 2 CO 3 as the catalyst. Physical–chemical characterization of OLP was conducted for acid value, saponification value, specific gravity, refractive index, kinematic viscosity, copper strip corrosion, and flash point. The chemical composition of OLP was determined by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS). As the catalyst content increased, the kinematic viscosity of OLP decreased from 6.59 to 3.63 mm 2 s −1 and the acid value from 51.56 to 1.26 mg KOH/g. The GC–MS analysis showed that OLP comprise hydrocarbons (normal paraffin, olefin, and naphthenic) and oxygenated compounds (carboxylic acids, alcohols, ketones, and esters), with a high dependency on the catalyst level. As the catalyst content increased, the concentration of hydrocarbons increased, whereas the concentration of oxygenates decreased. The optimal sodium carbonate catalyst level was found to be 15% (w/w). This gave the highest rate of conversion into biofuel, of which around 60% was OLP, and produced biofuels with the lowest acid values. The physical–chemical properties were within the limits fixed by ANP No. 65 (Diesel S10 specification) due to their high hydrocarbon content (92.84%) and low oxygenate content (7.16%). The hydrocarbons produced had characteristics similar to those of petroleum diesel, offering the potential to replace petroleum fuels without requiring deacidification or deoxygenation pretreatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, the production of light diesel like fractions by thermal catalytic cracking of crude palm oil ( Elaeis guineensis , Jacq.) has been systematically investigated in pilot scale. The cracking reactions were carried out in a reactor of 143 L, operating in batch mode at 450 °C and atmospheric pressure, using 20% (w/w) sodium carbonate (Na 2 CO 3 ) as catalyst. The reaction products called organic liquid products (OLP) were submitted to distillation using a laboratory scale column (Vigreux Column) of three stages in order to obtain light diesel like fractions. The catalyst has been characterized by X-ray diffraction, FTIR spectroscopy, TGA and DTG. The OLP and the green diesel fractions have been physical–chemical characterized by officials AOCS, ASTM, and ABNT/NBR methods in terms of acid value, saponification value, density, refraction index, kinematics viscosity, copper strip corrosion, carbon residue, flash point, and distillation curve. The chemical composition of green diesel has been determined by FTIR spectroscopy and GC–MS. The results show that the process yield on OLP was 65.86% (w/w) with an acid value of 1.02 mg KOH/g OLP and kinematic viscosity of 1.48 mm 2 /s, 30.24% (w/w) non-condensable gases, 2.5% (w/w) water, and 1.4% (w/w) coke. The yield on green diesel obtained by distillation average 24.9% (w/w), presenting an acid value of 1.68 mg KOH/g green diesel and kinematic viscosity of 1.48 mm 2 /s. The GC–MS analysis indicated that green diesel is composed of 91.38% (w/w) of hydrocarbons (31.27% normal paraffins, 54.44% olefins and 5.67% of naphthenics), and 8.62% (w/w) of oxygenates compounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]