Green diesel production from hydrothermal catalytic decarboxylation on a supported pd-co catalyst

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016010000-A1
Application number	US-201514744590-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jun 19, 2015
Priority date	Jun 20, 2014
Publication date	Jan 14, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

Materials and methods for converting brown grease to useful diesel fuel are described. One material is a palladium catalyst on a silicon/carbon support. A method comprises flowing fresh hydrogen over a reaction of diluted brown grease on a palladium/carbon catalyst.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A catalyst for decarboxylation of a fatty acid, the catalyst comprising:
about 0.5% to about 10% palladium by weight; and a support comprising silicon atoms and carbon atoms.

2 . The catalyst according to claim 1 wherein the support has a ratio of carbon atoms to silicon atoms of about 3:1 to about 40:1.

3 . The catalyst according to claim 2 wherein the ratio of carbon atoms to silicon atoms is about 4.3:1 to about 34.7:1.

4 . The catalyst according to claim 3 wherein the ratio of carbon atoms to silicon atoms is about 4.3:1.

5 . The catalyst according to claim 1 having a porous surface with an average pore diameter of about 3.6 nanometers to about 5.4 nanometers.

6 . The catalyst according to claim 1 comprising about 5% palladium by weight.

7 . The catalyst according to claim 1 wherein the palladium comprises a metal particle having a diameter of about 3 nanometers to about 8 nanometers.

8 . The catalyst according to claim 1 wherein the catalyst has an acidity of about 0.10 to about 2.5 mmol/g cat .

9 . The catalyst according to claim 1 wherein when exposed to oleic acid, the catalyst converts at least 10% of the oleic acid to n-heptadecane.

10 . The catalyst according to claim 9 which converts at least 30% of the oleic acid to n-heptadecane.

11 . A method of making a catalyst for decarboxylation of a fatty acid, the method comprising:
combining activated carbon with tetraethyl orthosilicate to form a support; mixing a palladium solution with the support; and drying the catalyst.

12 . The method of claim 11 wherein the tetraethyl orthosilicate is provided in a mass ratio to the activated carbon of about 0.5:1 to about 4:1.

13 . The method of claim 12 wherein the mass ratio of tetraethyl orthosilicate to activated carbon is about 4:1.

14 . The method of claim 11 wherein palladium comprises about 5% of a weight of the catalyst.

15 . The method of claim 11 wherein the palladium solution is a solution of about 1.1% palladium chloride by weight and a weight ratio of palladium chloride to support is about 0.088:1.

16 . The method of claim 11 wherein when the catalyst is exposed to oleic acid, it converts at least 10% of the oleic acid to n-heptadecane.

17 . A method of converting brown grease to green diesel, the method comprising:
diluting the brown grease with a diluent; combining brown grease with a catalyst comprising palladium and carbon in a reactor having a gas flow intake and a gas relief valve; and providing a volume of gas comprising hydrogen gas through the gas flow intake and allowing gas to exhaust through the gas relief valve to maintain a pressure of about 1.5 megapascal.

18 . The method of claim 17 further comprising pretreating the brown grease with a catalyst comprising palladium and carbon under a flow of hydrogen gas.

19 . The method of claim 18 wherein pretreating comprises about two hours at about one hundred degrees Celsius at a pressure of 1.5 megapascal.

20 . The method of claim 17 wherein the catalyst is soaked with dodecane and reduced under a flow of hydrogen gas prior to combining with brown grease.

Assignees

• Univ Wayne State

Inventors

• Sari Elvan
• Salley Steven O
• Ng K Y Simon

Classifications

• B01J2235/15

  X-ray diffraction · CPC title

• B01J2235/10

  Infrared [IR] · CPC title

• B01J2235/30

  Scanning electron microscopy; Transmission electron microscopy · CPC title

• B01J35/80

  characterised by their amorphous structures · CPC title

• B01J35/393

  Metal or metal oxide crystallite size · CPC title