Thermocatalytic cracking of residual cooking oil using raw and treated electric arc furnace dust (EAFD) as a catalyst

Abstract

The search for the development of alternative and renewable energies in the last two decades (2000 to 2020) intensified mainly in this last year (2021) due to important structural changes in the governments of the leading world powers, such as the United States and countries that are part of the European Union, resulted in a cluster of new ideas, with potential for application, according to each specificity and geopolitics of the nations. In this context, studies were carried out to obtain biofuels from the cracking process on a bench scale. For the development of this work, residual cooking oil was used as a feedstock and as catalysts the raw and treated EAFD (1200 ºC, 900 ºC, with a sulfuric acid solution in 0.1M, 0.5M and 1M). The reactions were carried out under the following conditions: temperature of 430 ºC, reaction time of 30 minutes and catalyst content of 2%. The results obtained show the efficiency of the catalysts used, with emphasis on the raw and heat-treated electric arc furnace dust at 900 ºC followed by leaching with 0.1 and 1.0 molar solutions of H₂SO₄. Such catalysts presented total yield in products after cracking reaction of 78, 68 and 69%, respectively. The hydrocarbons identified in the OLPs showed hydrocarbon chains between C₈ and C₃₅.