Green Diesel Production from Catalytic Hydrogenation of Brown Grease

Increase in the petroleum prices, projected increases in the world's energy demand and environmental awareness have shifted the research interest to the alternative fuel technologies. In particular, green diesel, vegetable oil/animal fat/waste oil and grease derived hydrocarbons in diesel boiling range, has become an attractive alternative to biodiesel- a mixture of fatty acid methyl esters, particularly due to its superior fuel properties that are similar to petroleum diesel. Hence, green diesel can be used as a drop-in fuel in the current diesel engines. The current technology for production of green diesel- hydrogenation of triglycerides and fatty acids over conventional hydrotreating catalysts suffers from fast catalyst deactivation in the absence of hydrogen combined with high temperatures and high fatty acid content in the feedstock. This book proposes a new technology- selective decarboxylation of brown grease, which is a mixture of fats and oils collected from waste water trap and rich in fatty acids, over a supported Fe/ Al2O3 catalyst that overcomes the green diesel production challenges.