THERMAL AND CATALYTIC PYROLYSIS OF CRAMBE ABYSSINICA HOCHST OIL USING MCM-41 AND Mo/MCM-41 MOLECULAR SIEVES
Crambe Abyssinica Hochst; Pyrolysis; Kinetic Study; Bio-oil; Mesoporous Catalysts
The use of renewable fuels to replace fossil fuels has become essential for the preservation of the environment. Therefore, the main aspects of Crambe Abyssinica Hochst, the potential of this raw material for the production of biofuels, and its oil are discussed and evaluated in this work. This crop is already used in industry to obtain various products, including biodiesel, bringing expectations of producing new biofuels. Experimentally, approximately 30% oil was obtained from crambe seeds by extraction using soxhlet. A kinetic study through thermal and catalytic decomposition, with the mesoporous sieves MCM-41 and Mo/MCM-41 by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA/DTG) was carried out using the mathematical methods Ozawa-Flynn-Wall (OFW) and Kissinger-Akahira- Sunose (KAS). Lower Activation Energy (Ea) values were obtained with Mo/MCM-41, showing the importance of the metal in the active site of the catalytic material, both in the OFW and KAS methods. The corresponding catalysts used in this process were characterized by XRD with well defined Miller index peaks. In the FRX analysis, molybdenum impregnation was observed in the form of MoO3. The thermal and catalytic pyrolysis of the same material in the proportion of 88% of the oil with 12% of the catalysts showed that the catalytic pyrolysis with Mo/MCM-41 produced 41.12% of hydrocarbons with a yield of almost 75%, considered a good result . Finally, the production of heavy gasoly (C18 – C25) among the hydrocarbon fractions formed was consistent with expectations, as the major acid present in crambe oil is erucic, which contains 22 carbon atoms.