Catalytic cracking of vegetable oils and vacuum gasoil with commercial high alumina zeolite and halloysite nanotubes for biofuel production

• Catalytic cracking of vegetable oils with vacuum gasoil is an effective way for biofuel production.
• Halloysite nanotube was blended with high alumina Y-zeolite to reduce coke formation.
• Gasoline yield was increased by about 4% while coking decreased by 10% due to a more efficient cracking of large molecules.
• Halloysite yielded more efficient isomerization, causing branched hydrocarbons in gasoline.

Blends of cottonseed and sunflower oils with vacuum gasoil were catalytically cracked in fixed bed microreactor using commercial high alumina zeolite FCC catalyst and halloysite nanotubes as a catalyst. Halloysite occurs in nature as clay nanotube with large 5–20 nm inner lumen that provides cost-effective way to produce mesoporous cracking catalysts with low environmental footprint. Performance of the cracking catalyst was significantly improved in terms of gasoline yield and coke formation upon addition of halloysite. Hydrocarbon content of the gasoline fraction was analyzed in detail and efficiency of the skeletal isomerization within halloysite pores was observed to be significantly higher than with the FCC catalyst alone, increasing the yield of the branched hydrocarbons in produced gasoline and hence octane rating.

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