Application of mixture experimental design for optimization of nickel catalyst promoted with Cu and Mg and supported by kieselguhr for soybean oil hydrogenation.

In this work, Ni/calcined Kieselguhr was promoted with Cu and Mg to enhance the hydrogenation of soybean oil. The experimental design software was used to study the impact of each metal on catalyst activity and find the best Ni–Cu–Mg composition. The prepared catalysts were characterized by BET, FESEM, EDX-elemental mapping and H₂-TPR analyses. The catalytic activity of all prepared catalysts was examined in a semi-batch reactor. The best catalytic composition was obtained to be 0.604 Ni, 0.223 Cu, and 0.173 Mg values (based on the mass fraction of the prepared catalyst with the total activated catalyst weight of 21 wt%). The highest catalytic activity and fatty acid conversion, 77.6 IV and 69.0% linoleic acid conversion, were found at optimum conditions. Kinetic studies indicated that the reaction rate depends on catalyst composition. The optimum catalyst exhibited a significant rate constant for linolenic and linoleic acid conversion with the selectivity of 1.212 and 2.218. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]