Date of Award

Spring 2018

Project Type

Thesis

Program or Major

Chemical Engineering

Degree Name

Master of Science

First Advisor

Palligarnai T Vasudevan

Second Advisor

Nivedita R Gupta

Third Advisor

Nan Yi

Abstract

The search for alternatives to petroleum-based fuels has led to the development of fuels from various sources, including renewable feedstocks such as fats and oils. Several types of fuels can be derived from these triacylglycerol-containing feedstocks. One of them is biodiesel, which is defined as the mono-alkyl esters of vegetable oils or animal fats. Biodiesel is produced by transesterifying the oil or fat with an alcohol such as methanol under mild conditions in the presence of a base catalyst. Another kind of product that can be obtained from lipid feedstocks is a fuel whose composition simulates that of petroleum-derived diesel fuel. This fuel termed as ‘‘green diesel’’, is produced from biodiesel by hydrodeoxygenation reaction at elevated temperature and pressure in the presence of a catalyst. Here, tungsten is used as hydrodeoxgenation catalyst to get green diesel from biodiesel. In this research, the effects of feed-stock, reduction and reaction temperatures, hydrogen flowrate and choice of promoter on the hydrodeoxygenation activity of the catalyst were examined. It is found that reduction and reaction temperatures are the two most important parameters for overall biodiesel conversion and yield of green diesel. The results for unpromoted and promoted tungsten catalyst are compared with the results for both the oxide and sulfide forms of the catalyst.

Download

Share

COinS