Hydrocracking of Calophyllum inophyllum oil with non-sulfide CoMo catalysts

This research was aimed to convert Calophyllum inophyllum kernel oil into liquid fuel through hydro-cracking process using non-sulfide CoMo catalysts. The experiment was carried out in a pressurized re-actor operated at temperature and pressure up to 350 °C and 30 bar, respectively. The CoMo catalysts used in the experiment were prepared by 10 wt.% loading of cobalt and molybdenum solutions over various supports, i.e. γ-Al₂O₃, SiO₂, and γ-Al₂O₃-SiO₂ through impregnation method. It is figured out from the experiment that non-sulfide CoMo based catalysts have functioned well in the hydrocracking conversion of Calophyllum inophyllum kernel oil into fuels, such as gasoline, kerosene, and gasoil. The CoMo/γ-Al₂O₃ catalyst resulted higher conversion than CoMo/SiO₂ and CoMo/γ-Al₂O_3-SiO₂. The fuel yields were 25.63% gasoline, 17.31% kerosene, and 38.59% gasoil. The fuels obtained in this research do not contain sulfur compounds so that they can be categorized as environmentally friendly fuels.