Hydroprocessing of Jatropha Oil for Production of Green Diesel over Non-sulfided Ni-PTA/Al(2)O(3) Catalyst

The non-sulfided Ni-PTA/Al(2)O(3) catalyst was developed to produce green diesel from the hydroprocessing of Jatropha oil. The Ni-PTA/Al(2)O(3) catalyst was prepared by one-pot synthesis of Ni/Al(2)O(3) with the co-precipitation method and then impregnanting Ni/Al(2)O(3) with PTA solution. The catalysts were characterized with BET, SEM-EDX, TEM, XRD, XPS, TGA and NH(3)-TPD. The Ni and W species of the Ni-PTA/Al(2)O(3) catalyst were much more homogeneously distributed on the surface than that of commercial Al(2)O(3). Catalytic performance in the hydroprocessing of Jatropha oil was evaluated by GC. The maximum conversion of Jatropha oil (98.5 wt%) and selectivity of the C15-C18 alkanes fraction (84.5 wt %) occurred at 360 °C, 3.0 MPa, 0.8 h(−1). The non-sulfided Ni-PTA/Al(2)O(3) catalyst is more environmentally friendly than the conventional sulfided hydroprocessing catalyst, and it exhibited the highest catalytic activity than the Ni-PTA catalyst supported with commercial Al(2)O(3) grain and Al(2)O(3) powder.