Deoxygenation of fatty acid to produce diesel-like hydrocarbons: A review of process conditions, reaction kinetics and mechanism

Deoxygenation process of fatty acid as a renewable resource to produce diesel-like hydrocarbons is one of the alternatives to address drastic shortage of crude oil-based fuels in the near future. Catalytic deoxygenation process of fatty acid is getting attention from both academia and industry. Researchers have tried different techniques in the fatty acid deoxygenation to enhance the production of diesel-like hydrocarbons. This review paper elucidates the influence of tmain operating conditions towards achieving optimum yield and selectivity of desired products. The reaction pathways, the reaction kinetics as well as recent progress in deoxygenation of fatty acid for production of diesel-like hydrocarbons are also reviewed. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.