Performance studies of various cracking catalysts in the conversion of canola oil to fuels and chemicals in a fluidized-bed reactor

Studies were conducted at atmospheric pressure at temperatures in the range of 400-500 degrees C and fluidizing gas velocities in the range of 0.37-0.58 m/min (at standard temperature and pressure) to evaluate the performance of various cracking catalysts for canola oil conversion in a fluidized-bed reactor. Results show that canola oil conversions were high (in the range of 78-98 wt%) and increased with an increase in both temperature and catalyst acid sire density and with a decrease in fluidizing gas velocity. The product distribution mostly consisted of hydrocarbon gases in the C-1-C-5 range, a mixture of aromatic and aliphatic hydrocarbons in the organic liquid product (OLP) and coke. The yields of C-4 hydrocarbons, aromatic hydrocarbons and C-2-C-4 olefins increased with both temperature and catalyst acid site density but decreased with an increase in fluidizing gas velocity. In contrast, the yields of aliphatic and C-5 hydrocarbons followed trends completely opposite to those of C-2-C-4 olefins and aromatic hydrocarbons. A comparison of performance of the catalysts in a fluidized-bed reactor with earlier work in a fixed-bed reactor showed that selectivities for formation of both C-5 and iso-C-4 hydrocarbons in a fluidized-bed reactor were extremely high (maximum of 65.7 and 18 wt% of the gas product) as compared to maximum selectivities of 18 and 16 wt% of the gas product, respectively, in the fixed-bed reactor. Also, selectivity for formation of gas products was higher for runs with the fluidized-bed reactor than for those with the fixed-bed reactor, whereas the selectivity for OLP was higher with the fixed-bed reactor. Furthermore, both temperature and catalyst determined whether the fractions of aromatic hydrocarbons in the OLP were higher in the fluidized-bed or fixed-bed reactor.