Catalytic deoxygenation of waste soybean oil over hybrid catalyst for production of bio-jet fuel: in situ supply of hydrogen by aqueous-phase reforming (APR) of glycerol

A one-pot reaction was performed to produce oxygen-free saturated hydrocarbons via the catalytic deoxygenation and hydrogenation of waste soybean oil over a hybrid catalyst (Pd/C and NiO/gamma-Al2O3). We utilized in situ hydrogen generated from a reforming reaction of glycerol, a byproduct of triglyceride hydrolysis, for the one-pot reaction to produce hydrocarbons. When NiO/gamma-Al2O3 (2 g) was used along with Pd/C (1 g), most of the unsaturated free fatty acids (FFAs) were hydrogenated into saturated FFAs, and the percentage of desirable hydrocarbons in the liquid product increased, in contrast to the case when only Pd/C (1 g) was used. This result means that using a hybrid catalyst is better for promoting the catalytic deoxygenation reaction than increasing the degree of loading of Pd/C, and suggests that it should be possible to decrease the amount of precious metal catalysts to be used for deoxygenation reaction.