Production of Biofuel by Hydrocracking of Cerbera Manghas Oil Using Co-Ni/HZSM-5 Catalyst : Effect of Reaction Temperature

This research aims to investigate the effect of various reaction temperatures on the hydrocracking of Cerbera manghas oil to produce biofuel as a paraffin-rich mixture of hydrocarbons with Co-Ni/HZSM-5 catalyst. Co-Ni/HZSM-5 catalyst was prepared by incipient wetness impregnation. The catalyst was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), N2 physisorption according to the Brunauer-Emmet-Teller (BET) method, and atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS). The hydrocracking reaction was carried out in a pressure batch reactor, reaction temperatures of 300-375 oC for 2 hours, reactor pressure of 15 bar after flowing H2 for at least 1 hour, and a catalyst/oil ratio of 1 g/200 ml. The hydrocarbon composition was determined by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). With the Co(0.88%)-Ni(3.92%)/HZSM-5 catalyst, the highest yield for gasoil was 46.45% at temperature of 350 oC. At this reaction temperature condition, the main abundant hydrocarbon compounds in gasoil-like hydrocarbon were n-paraffin, i.e. pentadecane of 20.06 area% and heptadecane of 14.13 area%. Biofuels produced showed that abundant hydrocarbon compounds were different at different reaction temperatures. Iso-paraffin with low freezing point and good flow property were not found in gasoil-like hydrocarbon. Isomerization depends on reaction condition and type of catalyst