Effect of Water and Glycerol in Deoxygenation of Coconut Oil over Bimetallic NiCo/SAPO-11 Nanocatalyst under N2 Atmosphere

The catalytic deoxygenation of coconut oil was performed in a continuous-flow reactor over bimetallic NiCo/silicoaluminophosphate-11 (SAPO-11) nanocatalysts for hydrocarbon fuel production. The conversion and product distribution were investigated over NiCo/SAPO-11 with different applied co-reactants, i.e., water (H2O) or glycerol solution, performed under nitrogen (N2) atmosphere. The hydrogen-containing co-reactants were proposed here as in-situ hydrogen sources for the deoxygenation, while the reaction tests under hydrogen (H2) atmosphere were also applied as a reference set of experiments. The results showed that applying co-reactants to the reaction enhanced the oil conversion as the following order: N2 (no co-reactant) < N2 (H2O) < N2 (aqueous glycerol) < H2 (reference). The main products formed under the existence of H2O or glycerol solution were free fatty acids (FFAs) and their corresponding Cn−1 alkanes. The addition of H2O aids the triglyceride breakdown into FFAs, whereas the glycerol acts as hydrogen donor which is favourable to initiate hydrogenolysis of triglycerides, causing higher amount of FFAs than the former case. Consequently, those FFAs can be deoxygenated via decarbonylation/decarboxylation to their corresponding Cn−1 alkanes, showing the promising capability of the NiCo/SAPO-11 to produce hydrocarbon fuels even in the absence of external H2 source.