Hydrocracking of Coconut Oil over Ni-Fe/HZSM-5 Catalyst to Produce Hydrocarbon Biofuel

Muhammad Al-Muttaqii (Chemical Reaction Engineering Laboratory, Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Industrial Technology, Sepuluh Nopember Institute of Technology, Jl. Raya ITS, Keputih, Sukolilo, Surabaya 60111, Indonesia)
Firman Kurniawansyah (Chemical Reaction Engineering Laboratory, Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Industrial Technology, Sepuluh Nopember Institute of Technology, Jl. Raya ITS, Keputih, Sukolilo, Surabaya 60111, Indonesia)
Danawati Hari Prajitno (Chemical Reaction Engineering Laboratory, Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Industrial Technology, Sepuluh Nopember Institute of Technology, Jl. Raya ITS, Keputih, Sukolilo, Surabaya 60111, Indonesia)
Achmad Roesyadi (Chemical Reaction Engineering Laboratory, Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Industrial Technology, Sepuluh Nopember Institute of Technology, Jl. Raya ITS, Keputih, Sukolilo, Surabaya 60111, Indonesia)

Indonesian Journal of Chemistry
Vol 19, No 2 (2019)

This present study was aimed to investigate the hydrocracking of coconut oil using Ni-Fe/HZSM-5 catalyst in a batch reactor at three reaction temperatures (350, 375, and 400 °C). The Ni-Fe/HZSM-5 catalyst was prepared by using incipient wetness impregnation. The Ni-Fe/HZSM-5 catalyst was characterized using XRD, BET, and SEM-EDX. From XRD results, the loading of Ni and Fe did not change the crystalline structure of HZSM-5 catalyst. The surface area of HZSM-5 was 425 m2/g and decreased after the addition of metals (Ni and Fe) into HZSM-5 support. These changes implied that Ni and Fe particles were successfully dispersed on the HZSM-5 surface and incorporated into HZSM-5 pore. The product of hydrocarbon biofuel was analyzed using GC-MS. The GC-MS results of hydrocarbon biofuel showed the highest compounds for n-paraffin and yield for gasoil was 39.24 and 18.4% at a temperature of 400 °C, respectively. The reaction temperature affected the yield and the composition of hydrocarbon biofuel. At this reaction temperature condition, decarboxylation and decarbonylation were favored; lead to the formation of n-alkanes with an odd number of carbon atoms chain length.