Analysis of the Organic Liquid Produced From Catalytic Cracking of Crude Palm Oil in the Presence of Alumina Supported Catalysts

Catalytic cracking of crude palm oil (CPO) was studied in the presence of alumina, 1% Pt/Al2O3 and 1% Pd/Al2O3 as catalyst. The CPO to catalyst weight ratio used was 1:0.05. The experiment was carried out in a simple liquid-phase batch reactor at atmospheric pressure where the sample was heated to 300-350 degrees C. Products formed were organic liquid products (OLP) and gaseous product with the solid residue remains in the reactor. The total conversion of CPO was only between 25 - 31% where the residue is suggested to be mainly of polimerised CPO. The OLP was analysed using a gas chromatography with FID detector. Analyses show that the selectivity to liquid fuel is influence by the catalyst used whereby Al2O3 gives the highest selectivity to gasoline while 1% Pt/Al2O3 has the highest selectivity to diesel. However, 1% Pd/Al2O3 is not a suitable catalyst for catalytic cracking of CPO to liquid fuel where less than 17.5% of OLP produced could be classified as liquid fuel.