Catalytic deoxygenation with SO42--Fe2O3/Al2O3 catalyst: Optimization by Taguchi method

This work investigates the optimization of reaction parameters with the Taguchi method for catalytic deoxy-genation of waste cooking oil (WCO) as an alternative renewable fuel process. Commercial sulphated-ferric (II) oxide/alumina oxide catalyst has the potential as a deoxygenation catalyst due to its good physicochemical properties which enhance the removal of oxygenated species. The obtained pyrolysis oil analysed by GC-MS revealed the selectivity of the pyrolysis oil mostly in the range of light diesel and kerosene fraction. From an analysis of variance (ANOVA), temperature awarded the most significant impact (86.62%) in this catalytic deoxygenation as compared to three other parameters followed by reaction time > N2 flow > catalyst loading. From the GC-MS analysis, the maximum renewable diesel fraction of 49.66% was obtained at 400 degrees C, 1 wt% of catalyst, 90 min of reaction time and 20 cm3/min N2 flow. The predicted model by Taguchi in the present study validated by the experimental work shows a promising application in optimising the catalytic pyrolysis process for future use.