Hydroprocessing of Jatropha Oil for Production of Green Diesel over Non-sulfided Ni-PTA/Al2O3 Catalyst

The non-sulfided Ni-PTA/Al2O3 catalyst was developed to produce green diesel from the hydroprocessing of Jatropha oil. The Ni-PTA/Al2O3 catalyst was prepared by one-pot synthesis of Ni/Al2O3 with the co-precipitation method and then impregnanting Ni/Al2O3 with PTA solution. The catalysts were characterized with BET, SEM-EDX, TEM, XRD, XPS, TGA and NH3-TPD. The Ni and W species of the Ni-PTA/Al2O3 catalyst were much more homogeneously distributed on the surface than that of commercial Al2O3. 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/Al2O3 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 Al2O3 grain and Al2O3 powder.