Application of Microporous Catalysts in the Production of Biofuels from Non Edible Vegetable Oils and Used Restaurant Oil

Jatropha oil was cracked over micoporous catalysts, such as HY, HZSM-5, and HMordenite, at the optimized conditions obtained over H beta towards cracking of jatropha oil. The synthesized catalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller surface area analyzer, inductively coupled plasma, and temperature programmed desorption techniques. Among the microporous materials, HZSM-5 catalyst was found to be the best in terms of conversion (62%), selectivity towards green gasoline (50%), and less coke formation (0.8%) in the cracking of jatropha oil. Cracking of other oils, such as castor, neem, and pongamia, under the optimized conditions resulted in 82% conversion of castor oil; however, higher selectivity towards green gasoline (49%) was obtained in the cracking of pongamia oil.