Use of ZSM-5 catalyst in deoxygenation of waste cooking oil

This study investigated the potential use of waste cooking oil (WCO) in the production of engine fuels and valuable chemicals via catalytic cracking. WCO was processed in its pure form and in a mixture with hydrotreated vacuum gas oil (HVGO). Catalytic cracking experiments were performed using a microactivity test (MAT) (simulation of the fluid catalytic cracking environment). In cracking over the standard fluid catalytic cracking equilibrium catalyst (FCC-ECAT), the oxygen contained in the feed was consumed in the formation of CO and CO₂, water and into oxygenated organic compounds (phenolics, esters, carboxylic acids, etc.), which were found in the organic phase of the liquid product. In order to remove the unwanted organic oxygenates, the catalytic system based on pure FCC-ECAT was modified by addition of the ZSM-5-based FCC catalyst. By using the mixture containing FCC-ECAT and 10 mass % of FCC-ZSM-5, it was possible to reduce the amount of organic oxygenates to almost the feasible minimum when cracking pure WCO. The effect of the catalyst mixture on cracking the feed mixture of the vacuum gas oil with 10 vol. % of WCO was manifested in the practically zero formation of organic oxygenates and in a gasoline yield comparable with vacuum gas oil (VGO) cracking.