Catalytic cracking of Swida wilsoniana oil for hydrocarbon biofuel over Cu-modified ZSM-5 zeolite

Catalytic cracking of Swida wilsoniana oil over non-catalyst and various Cu-modified ZSM-5 catalysts doped with different concentration of Cu (0, 5, 10, 20 and 30 wt%) was studied. The physicochemical properties of the prepared catalysts were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) model, Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and temperature-programmed desorption of ammonia (NH3-TPD) analysis. Results showed that the introduction of Cu did not change the crystalline structure of ZSM-5 and CuO might deposit on the surface or inside the pores. The numbers of ZSM-5 total acidic sites were increased after it was loaded with 5 wt% and 10 wt% concentration of Cu. The overall hydrocarbon biofuels yields obtained from Cu-modified ZSM-5 catalysts were improved relative to parent ZSM-5. Determination of composition of the hydrocarbon biofuels showed that the hydrocarbon fractions were the main components produced. The optimum Cu concentration used for ZSM-5 modification was 10 wt%, which obtained the highest hydrocarbon biofuels yield (68.20 wt%) and percentage of hydrocarbon fractions content (89.07 wt%). The reuse of Cu-modified ZSM-5 catalysts results showed acceptable levels of reusability after three times regeneration. In addition, the physical properties of the Cu-modified ZSM-5 catalysts produced hydrocarbon biofuels were improved compared to noncatalytic cracking of S. wilsoniana oil. This work showed that the newly developed 10 wt% concentration Cu-modified ZSM-5 was an efficient catalyst for cracking of S. wilsoniana oil for the production of hydrocarbon biofuels.