Hydrocracking of Jojoba Oil for Green Fuel Production

Abstract

The fast depletion of petroleum crude oil reserves and the serious consideration of environmental issues make the implementation of sustainable energy sources a crucial issue worldwide. Biofuel derived from vegetable oils is receiving a great attention as one of the most suitable and logical alternatives of fossil fuels. Therefore, the production of petroleum-like fractions from nonedible oil extracted from jojoba seeds is the main objective of this study. Hydrocracking technique has been applied here, using a fixed bed high pressure flow reactor system and using zeolite as a catalyst. A series of experiments were carried out in the temperature ranges from 350-425oC at the pressure of 1.0-5.0 MPa, liquid hour space velocity (LHSV) of 1-5 hr-1, and H2 to oil feed ratio of 1600 l/l in order to elucidate the influence of operating conditions on the quantity and quality of the biofuel attained. The major products obtained from hydrocracking of jojoba oil feedstock were organic liquid products contaminated with some water and gases .The yield and conversion were estimated. The cracked products were analyzed and compared with that of the feed via FTIR, GC, ASTM distillation, and some routine testes. The organic liquid layers were fractionated to gasoline, kerosene, and gas oil. The results reveal that the main constituent lies in the gasoline range, which was favored at high temperature and pressure and low LHSV.