Catalytic performance of alumina supported metal oxides in catalytic cracking of used cooking oil

This work investigates the performance of alumina-metal oxides catalyst in the catalytic cracking of used cooking oil. Three different metal oxides (Fe2O3, MgO, and ZnO) were examined to serve as active phases on alumina to promote deoxygenation reaction. The reaction was conducted in a fixed bed reactor under N2 atmosphere. The liquid product yields obtained are in the following order: Fe2O3/Al2O3 (34%)>MgO/Al2O3 (29%)> ZnO/Al2O3 (22%). In comparison to Fe2O3/Al2O3 and MgO/Al2O3, ZnO/Al2O3 recorded the highest selectivity of liquid C5 − C20 hydrocarbons (51%). Meantime, it has been noticed that the cracking reaction over these catalysts resulted in coke formation (∼1-2%) along with high gaseous fractions (64 – 76%).