Co-hydrogenation of fatty acid by-products and different gas oil fractions

Abstract It is a great challenge for even the most complex refineries to ensure an economic yield distribution that satisfies the increased diesel fuel and biofuel consumption of the European Union. Thus, it is necessary to investigate the use of different gas oil fractions (e.g. low value streams) for producing diesel fuel blending components and the integration possibilities of biofuel production to a refinery. According to that the co-hydrogenation of mixtures of fatty acid by-products (0–20%) and different gas oil fractions (untreated gas oil fraction, light cycle oil) on commercial, sulphided NiMo/Al2O3 catalyst was investigated. The effects of feed compositions and process parameters (temperature, pressure, liquid hourly space velocity) on the quality and quantity of the gas oil products were investigated. The applied process parameters were the following: P = 40–70 bar, T = 320–380 °C, LHSV = 1.0–2.0 h−1, hydrogen/feedstock ratio = 600 Nm3/m3. We concluded that gas oil boiling range products with high yield can be produced from 10 to 20% fatty acid by-product and 10% light cycle oil containing feedstocks on the studied catalyst. The products are good quality diesel fuel blending components and have high waste derived component content.