Hydrodeoxygenation of fatty acid methyl esters and isomerization of products over NiP/SAPO-11 catalysts

NiP/SAPO-11 catalysts with various nickle loading amounts were prepared by the impregnation method, and their properties were determined by means of N2 adsorption-desorption, DRIFTS of adsorbed pyridine, NH3-TPD and H2-TPR. The catalytic hydrodeoxygenation of fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) and isomerization of consecutive paraffin products were carried out in a fixed-bed continuous-flow reactor. Liquid products were qualitatively and quantitatively identified by GC-MS and GC respectively. Under the operation conditions of 340°C, 2.0 MPa, WHSV of 2.5 h−1, vH2 of 60 mL/min, the catalyst with 3% nickel loading (mass content) attained the high conversion of FAME (97.8%), C15-18 yield (84.5%) and isomerization rate (14.0%).