Catalytic Cracking of Jatropha-derived fast pyrolysis oil using FCC E-catalyst
Desavath V. Naik*, T. Bhaskar, N. Atheya, K.K. Singh, Ajay Kumar, Mukesh K. Poddar, B. Bhavya,Dilip K. Adhikari, Madhukar O.Garg
bBio-fuels Division, CSIR-Indian Institute of Petroleum Dehradun-248005, India*Corresponding Author: E-mail: dvnaik@iip.res.in

Abstract
This paper aims to convert the waste biomass, a byproduct of Jatropha based bio-diesel industry, into value added hydrocarbons
using pyrolyzer followed by refinery fluid catalytic cracking unit. The catalytic cracking of biomass (Jatropha curcas cake)-derived
fast pyrolysis oil with vacuum gas oil was studied using laboratory fluid catalytic cracking (advanced cracking evaluation) unit
using refinery FCC equilibrium catalyst. The advanced cracking evaluation unit was operated at close to refinery FCC conditions.
The fast pyrolysis oil was obtained from bubbling fluidized bed pyrolyzer, which is operated at atmospheric pressure. The fastpyrolysis oil (FPO) to vacuum gas oil (VGO) blends prepared in the ratio of 20:80, 30:70, 40:60, and 50:50. The increase of FPO:VGO ratio leads to increase the product yields of dry gas, gasoline and coke; whereas decreased the yields of liquefied
petroleum gas. The gas chromatography analysis supports the information like lower yields of propane, propylene, butane,butylenes, and higher yields of ethylene, ethane.
Keywords: Biomass, Fast pyrolysis, Bio-crude oil, Fluid catalytic cracking

1. Introduction
Currently, almost all the liquid fuel used around the worldcomes from petroleum crude. A great advantage of using
liquid hydrocarbons for the transport sector is their highenergy density and ease of use. The concerns regarding
depleting petroleum supplies, secure energy supply anddwindling prices of crude oil and environmental issues
have resulted in the need for development of renewabletransportation fuels and chemicals to supplement orreplace those derived from fossil resources. Biomass
represents a potential alternative source of liquid fuels andchemicals. It is available abundantly and is a renewablesource of carbon containing molecules. The basic structureof all woody biomass consists of three organic polymers:
cellulose, hemicelluloses, and lignin. There has been aplethora of research on the thermo-chemical and biochemical biomass conversion methods and upgrading ofproducts. Among various thermo-chemical conversion
processes, pyrolysis is considered to be an emerging
technology for liquid oil production.
The main problem with pyrolysis oils is its high amount ofwater and its instability because of the presence organic
compounds with undesirable properties. Pyrolysis liquids
contain compounds that self-react during handling at
ambient temperatures to form larger molecules. Bio-oils
contain many reactive species, which contribute to unusual
attributes.

Chemically, bio-crude oil is a complex mixture of water,guaiacols,catecols,syringols,
vanilins,
furancarboxaldehydes, isoeugenol, pyrones, acetic acid,formic acid, and other carboxylic acids. It also contains
other major groups of compounds, includinghydroxyaldehydes, hydroxyketones, sugars, carboxylicacids, and phenolics. The bio-crude oil produced from fastpyrolysis needs up-gradation in order to use astransportation fuels or as petrochemical feedstock. In thepresent investigation, the fast pyrolysis of Jatropha curcas
cake has been performed to produce the bio-crude
followed by fluid catalytic cracking of bio-crude/vacuum gasoil (VGO) mixtures to produce usable products such astransportation fuels. Published literature [1-5] is available
for the effect of fast pyrolysis oil model compounds andpure fast pyrolysis oil with VGO/LCO on product selectivity.

2. Materials and Methods
The electrically heated bubbling fluidized bed pyrolyzer
with sand as fluidizing media has been used for the fastpyrolysis of biomass at temperature of 540°C. The
fluidizing gas (nitrogen) was preheated up to 400oC byelectric furnace, before reaching the pyrolysis reactor. The
biomass fed (de-oiled Jatropha curcas cake) into thereactor by screw feeder system, which is operated atabove atmospheric pressure. The char was separated bycyclone and vapor is condensed and separated as biocrude oil in a series of condensers and the noncondensable gases are recycled to reactor via filter &recycle gas compressor system.
Advanced Cracking Evaluation (ACE-R) of M/s. KayserTechnology Texas (USA) unit was used for catalytic
cracking of bio-crude oil i.e. fast pyrolysis oil. The
schematic diagram of ACE-R unit is shown in Figure 1. A
commercially available equilibrium FCC catalyst was usedin this process. The gas products were analyzed using insitu refinery gas analyzer (RGA) (GC HP 6890) equippedwith three detectors, a flame ionization detector (FID) andtwo thermal conductivity detectors and liquid products wereanalyzed using simulative distillation analysis (SIMDIST).
The coke deposited on the catalyst is burned with air inregeneration mode and the resulted total carbon dioxide
was analyzed using IR spectroscopy.
Figure 1: Schematic diagram of advanced cracking
evaluation FCC unit

The detailed investigation results along with the effect ofdifferent biomass feedstock will be discussed during thepresentation.
Table 1: Product Analysis of FCC products
VGO:FPO
Products
Dry gasLPG
IBP150°C
150-216°C
216-370°C
370°C +

100:0
Wt. %
2.41
23.58
35.22
10.02
19.44
6.34

50:50
Wt. %
3.56
16.03
38.13
10.58
20.88
6.91

60:40
Wt. %
3.44
17.72
37.43
11.1720.23
6.84

70:30
Wt. %
2.99
17.89
36.79
11.50
20.84
6.87

80:20
Wt. %
2.87
18.74
36.53
11.22
20.86
6.74

4. Conclusions
The mixtures of biomass fast pyrolysis liquids and vacuumgas oil has been used for the production of transportation
fuels along with the C2 hydrocarbons useful for thepetrochemical feedstock. There was remarkable increasein the quality and quantities of useful products obtained
from the FPO and VGO mixtures.

References
1.

2.

3.

3. Results & Discussion
The yield of liquid products obtained from the fast pyrolysisof biomass was in the range of 35-45 wt%. Different ratiosof vacuum gas oil and FPO has been used for the fluidized
catalytic cracking. The yield of gasoline was increased with
the increase of FPO. Interestingly, the yield of LPG wasdecreased with the increase of FPO. The optimum ratio forthe production of high gasoline was found to be 1:1 (VGO:FPO). With the addition of FPO, there was remarkableincrease in the production of C2 hydrocarbons, which canbe used as a feedstock in the petrochemical complex.

4.

5.

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