Biofuel production by catalytic cracking of sunflower oil using vanadium pentoxide

•Vanadium pentoxide was used to synthesize organic liquid products.•Aliphatic ester and their derivatives were detected in the product.•Light hydrocarbon, gasoline, kerosene and heavy oil like products were obtained.

This study presents the kinetic aspects of organic liquid products (OLP) synthesis from sunflower oil by catalytic cracking. A three-lump reaction kinetic model and Arrhenius equation were used to estimate the reaction constants and activation energy values. The effect temperature and catalyst concentration on % conversion and product distribution were analyzed. The maximum OLP formation (92.1%) was obtained at 628 K with 1.5 wt.% catalyst in 40 min. The data predicted by 3-lump kinetic model were well consistent with the experimental values. The smaller value of reaction constant obtained for the conversion of OLP into gas and coke indicates the presence of little secondary reactions. The lower activation energy required to convert the oil into OLP implied the selectivity of the catalyst towards OLP formation. The measured physical properties of the OLP were within/close to the required limits of ASTM D6751 (B100) specifications. FTIR and GC–MS analysis identified aliphatic ester and their derivatives as major constituents of the OLP. Variations in the fractional distillates of OLP indicate the influence of reaction conditions not only on % conversion but also on product distribution.