Deoxygenation of non-edible fatty acid for green diesel production: Effect of metal loading amount over Ni/MgO-Al2O3 on the catalytic performance and reaction pathway

Ni/MgO-Al2O3 (Ni/MG70) catalysts were developed for the deoxygenation reaction to produce green diesel from non-edible fatty acids. As the Ni loading amount was increased from 5% to 30%, the characteristics of the catalysts, such as Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area, Ni dispersion, reducibility, number of Ni active sites, and acidity, varied. Among the prepared catalysts, the 20% Ni/MG70 catalyst showed excellent deoxy-genation performance owing to its highest number of Ni active sites, easier reducibility, and appropriate acidity. Furthermore, it was confirmed that deoxygenation in this study was carried out via the hydrodeoxygenation reaction pathway to remove oxygen species as H2O. In addition, the basic fuel properties, calorific value and viscosity, were analyzed for produced green diesel.

Automated summary

In this study, a Ni/MgO-Al2O3 catalyst was developed for the production of green diesel from non-edible fatty acids. Among the prepared catalysts, the 20% Ni/MG70 catalyst exhibited the best deoxygenation performance due to its higher number of Ni active sites, easier reducibility, and appropriate acidity.