Hydroprocessing of Crude Jatropha Oil Using Hierarchical Structured TiO2 Nanocatalysts

Hydroprocessing of crude jatropha oil (CJO) has been studied over different hierarchical structured titania (TiO2) nanomaterial supports doped with Ni and Ce metals. Three different hierarchical structured TiO2 suport material were used including commercial TiO2 nanopowder, titania nanotubes (TNT) and titania nanosheets (TNS). The TNT and TNS support nanomaterials were synthesized using hydrothermal chemical route. However, the catalyst loading was performed using wet impregnation method. All the catalysts were characterized using Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FE-SEM), Transmission Electron Microscopic (TEM) and Accelerated Surface Area and Porosimetry (ASAP) analysis. NiCe/TNT catalysts exhibited highest conversion of triglycerides to hydrocarbon products as compared to NiCe/TiO2 and NiCe/TNS. The main products involved in the HC reaction are straight chain hydrocarbons ranging n-C15 to n-C18. However, the reaction pathways observed are: hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) and decarboxylation/decarbonylation (DCO/DCN). DCO/DCN was found to be the major reaction route under the studied conditions.