Production and characterization of pyrolytic oil by catalytic pyrolysis of Niger seed

Conventional pyrolysis of Niger seed was investigated in a semi batch reactor with and without the presence of catalyst. Thermal pyrolysis yielded maximum 34.5% of oil (by weight basis) at 550 °C temperature. The catalytic pyrolysis was carried out using catalysts Al2O3, CaO and Kaolin at 2:1, 4:1 and 8:1 feed to catalyst ratio at this temperature. The yield and fuel properties of thermal and catalytic pyrolytic oils were compared. The results confirmed that the presence of catalysts decreased the oil yield marginally whereas enhanced the fuel properties compared with thermal pyrolysis. It was observed that the three catalysts had different effect on the fuel properties of pyrolytic oils. Among the three different feed to catalyst ratios used, 8:1 resulted in higher oil yield and thus the fuel properties were evaluated at this ratio. Kaolin at 8:1 ratio was more suitable to enhance calorific value whereas CaO at 8:1 ratio was able to reduce the viscosity of pyrolytic oil. The FTIR and DSC analysis confirmed that pyrolytic oil was a mixture of saturated and unsaturated hydrocarbon compounds.