Parametric study on thermal decarboxylation of coconut oil using bentonite as catalyst

Date

6-2015

Degree

Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering

College

College of Engineering and Agro-Industrial Technology (CEAT)

Adviser/Committee Chair

Jewel A. Capunitan

Restrictions

Restricted: Not available to the general public. Access is available only after consultation with author/thesis adviser and only to those bound by the confidentiality agreement.

Abstract

Decarboxylation is one of the pathways by which hydrocarbons can be produced from biomass. Thermal decarboxylation of coconut oil, an abundant and readily available feedstock in the country, was investigated in this study., using bentonite as catalyst. The reaction was done for three hours while testing three factors ( temperature of the system, catalyst concentration, and solvent concentration) via a 2ᵏ factorial design of experiment. Low values of the factors used were: 150ºC, 0.99% (w/w) catalyst concentration, and 76.92% (w/w) solvent concentration. High values of the factors were: 200ºC, 23.08% (w/w) catalyst concentration, and 90.91% (w/w) solvent concentration. Based from the results, temperature had the greatest direct proportional effect on the conversion of oil to hydrocarbons followed by solvent concentration, then the 9interaction between temperature and solvent concentration. Increasing or decreasing the catalyst concentration has a small effect on the percentage of triglycerides in the oil that reacted. The best combination of the factors was the high temperature, high catalyst concentration and low solvent concentration as these conditIons resulted to a 51.78±1.01% mean percentage of oil that reacted. The lowest percentage of oil that reacted was 5.68±1.80% which resulted from low levels of all the factors.

Language

English

Location

UPLB College of Engineering and Agro-Industrial Technology (CEAT)

Call Number

LG 993.5 2015 E62 /G37

Document Type

Thesis

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