Catalytic cracking of soybean oil by hierarchical zeolite containing mesoporous silica-aluminas using a Curie point pyrolyzer

Catalytic cracking of soybean oil using hierarchical zeolite-containing mesoporous silica-aluminas was successfully estimated using a Curie point pyrolyzer. Most of the prepared catalysts exhibited higher catalytic activity and selectivity for gasoline than did a simple zeolite. The catalysts prepared using a larger amount of malic acid developed mesoporous structures and showed higher olefin/paraffin ratios and research octane numbers (RONs) than the simple zeolite and a catalyst with a microporous structure. When beta zeolite-containing catalysts were used, the ratio of multi/single branched products in the gasoline fraction reached more than 0.40, which was considerably larger than that obtained using a simple zeolite. When the yields of gasoline, single-branched products and multi-branched products were plotted against the conversion of soybean oil, approximately linear relationships were observed for every plot. When the yields of gasoline and single-branched products were compared at the same conversion, the yields from the HY zeolite-containing catalysts were higher than those from the beta zeolite-containing catalysts. These results were consistent with those for the catalytic cracking of VG previously reported. However, the yields of multi-branched products from beta zeolite-containing catalysts were higher than those from HY zeolite-containing catalysts. This result was different for VGO cracking, where the yield of multi-branched products from HY zeolite was higher. Furthermore, the RON of gasoline and the yield of aromatic compounds were higher than those for the catalytic cracking of VGO. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.