ABSTRACT
In this study, molybdenum nitride-bentonite was successfully employed for the reaction of hydrocracking of palm oil to produce a bio-gasoline and bio-aviation fuel. The prepared catalyst was characterized using XRD, FT-IR, and SEM-EDX. The acidity of the catalyst was determined using the pyridine gravimetric method. The result showed that the acidity of bentonite was increased after modification using molybdenum nitride. The hydrocracking study showed that the highest conversion and product fraction of bio-gasoline and bio-aviation fuel were exhibited by molybdenum nitride-bentonite 8 mEq g-1. The catalyst was later used to optimize the hydrocracking process using RSM-CCD. The effects of the process variables such as temperature, contact time, and catalyst to feed ratio, on the response variables, such as conversion, oil, gas, and coke yield, were investigated. The analysis of variance showed that the proposed quadratic model was statistically significant with adequate precision to estimate the responses. The optimum conditions in the hydrocracking process were achieved at a temperature of 731.94 K, contact time of 0.12 h, and a catalyst to feed ratio of 0.12 w/v with a conversion of 78.33%, an oil yield of 50.32%, gas yield of 44.00% and coke yield of 5.73%. The RSM-CCD was demonstrated as a suitable method for estimating the hydrocracking process of palm oil using a MoN-bentonite catalyst due to its closeness to the optimal value of the expected yield. This study provided a potential catalyst of based on bentonite modified using molybdenum nitride for the hydrocracking of palm oil.
ABSTRACT
The synthesis of ZnFe2O4 nanoparticles was performed using the solution combustion method with three types of fuel, namely urea, glycine, and ethylenediamine tetra-acetic acid (EDTA) with precursors (Zn(NO3)2.6H2O and Fe(NO3)3.9H2O. The combustion process was conducted in an open space at 300 °C for ± 1 h, resulting in a brownish-black ZnFe2O4. Meanwhile, the fuel type used in the process affects the physicochemical properties of ZnFe2O4. XRD analysis showed that ZnFe2O4 synthesized using urea, glycine, and EDTA had spinel structures with crystal sizes of 10.19, 20.34, and 27.21 nm, respectively. The FTIR spectra of ZnFe2O4 synthesized using the three fuel types had Zn-O and Fe-O stretching vibrations. Furthermore, the morphology of ZnFe2O4 synthesized using urea was more homogeneous than glycine and EDTA. The saturation magnetization of ZnFe2O4 synthesized using EDTA was 54.63 emu/g compared to glycine and urea, 50.93 and 44.73 emu/g, respectively. Finally, the surface area of synthesized ZnFe2O4 using urea, glycine, and EDTA were 116.4, 100.6, and 94.2 m2/g, respectively.
