Effect of Alkali on Liquid Yields from the Pyrolysis of Olive Oil

Abstract Olive oil can be converted to liquid hydrocarbons that can be used as engine fuels by alkali pyrolytic decarboxylation and cracking processes. There is a need to develop a direct process for conversion of vegetable oils into gasoline-competitive biodiesel and other petroleum products. The purpose of the pyrolysis process is to lower the viscosity of vegetable oil. Compared to No. 2 diesel fuel, all of the vegetable oils are much more viscous while methyl esters of vegetable oils are the slightly higher viscous. Conversion of vegetable oils to useful fuels involves the pyrolysis and catalytic cracking of the oils into lower molecular products. The gasoline or biogasoline can be obtained from vegetable oils by pyrolysis in the presence of Na2CO3. The pyrolysis liquid products of olive oils can be used as alternative engine fuel. An important part of the pyrolytic liquid products are gasoline range hydrocarbons. The highest yield of gasoline was 54.0%, which can be obtained from the pyrolysis with 5% Na2CO3 run.