Hydrodeoxygenation of oleic acid into n- and iso-paraffin biofuel using zeolite supported fluoro-oxalate modified molybdenum catalyst: Kinetics study

• Synthesis of zeolite supported fluoro molybdenum oxalate catalyst.
• Characterization of the zeolite supported fluoro molybdenum oxalate catalyst.
• Hydrodeoxygenation of oleic acid with the synthesized catalyst.
• Kinetics and Arrhenius parameter study of the hydrodeoxygenation process.
• Reusability study on the synthesized zeolite supported catalyst.

The activity of zeolite supported fluoride-ion functionalized molybdenum-oxalate catalyst (FMoOx/Zeol) and its kinetic study on the hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) of oleic acid (OA) is presented in this report. The FMoOx/Zeol was synthesized via simple dissolution method and characterized. The results revealed formation of highly reactive octahedral Mo species with enhanced textural and morphological properties. The FMoOx/Zeol activity on the HDO of OA at the best observed experimental conditions of 360°C, 30 mg FMoOx/Zeol and 20 bar produces 64% n-C18H38 and 30% iso-C18H38 in 60 min. The acidity of FMoOx/Zeol was responsible for the production of the iso-C18H38. The kinetic data showed that sequential hydrogenation of OA into stearic acid (SA) was faster than the HDO of SA into biofuel with activation energies of 98.7 and 130.3 kJ/mol, respectively. The reusability studies showed consistency after three consecutive runs amounting to 180 min reaction time. The results are encouraging towards industrial application.