Boreskov Institute of Catalysis SB RAS, Novosibirsk, Russia

PP-58HYDROCONVERSION OF VEGETABLE OILS INTO HYDROCARBON-BASED BIODIESEL OVER NONSULFIDED CATALYSTS:APPLICATION OF SUPPORTED MOLYBDENUM CARBIDESkorpluk A., Lavrenov A., Chumachenko Yu., Drozdov V., Trenichin M.,Gulyaeva T., Arbuzov A., Kudrya E., Leontieva N.Institute of Hydrocarbons Processing SB RAS, Russia, Omsk, Neftezavodskay 54,Fax +7-3812-64-61-56, E-mail: lavr@ihcp.oscsbras.ruVegetable oils can be hydroconverted to produce straight chain alkanes rangingfrom C 12 to C 18 . These alkanes have high cetane numbers and can be used as analternative diesel biofuel. Hydroconversion of vegetable oils into hydrocarbonssupposes elimination of oxygen. It has been found that conventional hydrotreatingcatalysts, such as sulfided Co(Ni)-Mo(W) supported on porous matrix, are suitable fordeoxygenation of vegetable oils. However, the application of sulfided catalysts inhydroconversion of neat vegetable oils requires the addition of sulfur-containingcompounds in the process for keeping the catalyst activity and lifetime. This paperpresents the results of sunflower oil hydroconversion using supported molybdenumcarbide catalysts. The aim is to describe in details the effect of molybdenum contentand the influence of reaction conditions on yield and composition of gas-phase andliquid products. A series of γ-Al 2 O 3 – supported catalysts (5-20 nominal wt% Mo)were prepared via temperature-programmed reaction of supported molibdenum oxidewith CH 4 /H 2 mixture. Catalysts were characterized with BET, XRD, HREM, FTIR,TPR H 2 , TPO O 2 , TPD NH 3 and CO chemisorption. Catalytic experiments werecarried out in fixed-bed reactor. To determine the significant factors for thehydroconversion of sunflower oil, a 2 k experimental design was used to plan theexperiment. The reaction temperature, pressure and WHSV were varied in the rangeof 300-350°C, 2-4 MPa and 1-5 h –1 , respectively. The hydrogen to feedstock ratiowas constant. Selective conversion of vegetable oil into hydrocarbons was achievedat 350 o C and 4 MPa over the catalyst with 10 wt% Mo. The results showed thatmolybdenum carbide catalyst gave up to 87% yield of liquid products. It wasdetermined that liquid products contained mostly alkanes C 18 (up to 66 wt.%) andalkanes С 5 -С 17 (up to 18 wt.%). Furthermore, the gas-phase analysis demonstratedthat the reduction reaction was more profound over the molybdenum carbidecatalyst, while the decarboxylation and decarbonylation reactions were more evidentover the sulfided and metallic catalysts.149