Hydrocracking of Cashew-Nut Shell Liquid Using NiO/Activated Natural Zeolite and NiOMoO/Activated Natural Zeolite Into Energy-Affording Fractions

Hydrocrackingof cashew-nutshellliquid (CNSL)intoenergy-affordingfractionshasbeeninvestigatedusingcatalyst of acid-acticated natural zeolite (ZAA), to which were further impregnated unimetal (NiO) and bimetal (NiOMoO) elements, thereby comprising two catalyst types (NiO/ZAA and NiOMoO/ZAA). This research aimed to examine how potential was the conversion of CNSL into energy-affording fractions, and to look into such metal imregnaton into ZAA catalyst on the performance of hydrocracking reaction. Catalyst characterization included determinig consecutively acidity using ammonia-base adsorption, and crystalinity using X-ray diffraction (XRD). Acid activation and metal impregnation increased the catalyst acidity and its crystalinity. The hydrocracking was carried out in a fixed-bed reactor employing the temperature 450C, the CNSL feed/catalyst ratio of 6, and flow rate of H at 20 ml/minute. The hydrocracking converted the CNSL into products that comprised the liquid-phase, gas-phase, and solid-phase (cokes) fractions,, which in all afforded energy, and the conversion of each fraction was examined. The liquid-phase product was further analyzed using gas chromatography (GC), which revealed that the GC's eluted liquid fraction were predominantly gasoline, diesel oil, and heavy oil. Each eluted fraction was further examined for its selectivity based on the elucidated GC area for each fraction over the total GC area for the overall liquid fractions. The hydrocracking performed optimally using NiOMoO/ZAA catalysts. Which converted as much 75.42% (the greatest) of the CNSL as the liquid product, with also the greatest in selectivity towards gasoline and diesel-oil fraction at 38.45% and 19.87%, respectively. The impregnation of metal element, particularly bimetal (NiOMoO) into ZAA catalyst indicatively enhanced the hydrocrackingperformance.