Transformation of Vegetable Oils into Hydrocarbons over Mesoporous-Alumina-Supported CoMo Catalysts

Deoxygenation of triglycerides over organized-mesoporous-alumina-supported CoMo catalysts (CoMo/OMA) has been investigated in this work. CoMo/OMA catalysts exhibited higher activity for deoxygenation of triglycerides than CoMo supported on MCM-41 (silica) and ordinary alumina supports. Two main deoxygenation pathways were found: hydrodeoxygenation and hydrodecarboxylation. Their extent was affected by reaction temperature, pressure and the support used. Hydrodeoxygenation was the main reaction under the studied conditions. The extent of hydrodecarboxylation increased with increasing reaction temperature and decreasing reaction pressure.