Systematics of renewable olefins from thermal cracking of canola oil

Olefins are the most important industrially produced organic chemicals with world annual production of over 300 billion pounds (lbs) per year. The conventional feedstock for the olefin plants ranges from light gaseous ethane/propane to heavy naphtha and vacuum gas oils. Thermal cracking of vegetable oils could convert them into valuable raw materials, which can be used in the chemical and petrochemical industry. This paper focuses on the systematics of a large number of experimental yields data obtained for the thermal cracking of canola oil and measured with a Carl 500 GC at University of Saskatchewan, Canada. The products were solid coke, liquid oil and light hydrocarbon rich gases. This large body of data is organized using an analytical semi-empirical model (ASEM) developed at the University of Florida that provides a reasonable account using only a small number of adjusted parameters. The model fits very well with the experimental data in the temperature range of 200–800 °C. The results suggest that the analytical methodology should be useful for organizing pyrolysis yields of other materials containing carbon, hydrogen and oxygen.