Bioresource Technology 98 (2007) 3593–3601

Catalytic cracking of palm oil for the production of biofuels:

Optimization studies
Pramila Tamunaidu, Subhash Bhatia *

School of Chemical Engineering, Engineering Campus, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Seri Ampangan, 14300 Nibong Tebal, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia

Received 11 September 2006; received in revised form 1 November 2006; accepted 15 November 2006
Available online 8 January 2007

Abstract

Oil palm is widely grown in Malaysia. Palm oil has attracted the attention of researchers to develop an ‘environmentally friendly’ and
high quality fuel, free of nitrogen and sulfur. In the present study, the catalytic cracking of palm oil to biofuel was studied over REY
catalyst in a transport riser reactor at atmospheric pressure. The effect of reaction temperature (400–500 C), catalyst/palm oil ratio (5–
10) and residence time (10–30 s) was studied over the yield of bio-gasoline and gas as fuel. Design of experiments was used to study the
effect of operating variables over conversion of palm oil and yield of hydrocarbon fuel. The response surface methodology was used to
determine the optimum value of the operating variables for maximum yield of bio-gasoline fraction in the liquid product obtained.
 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Catalytic cracking; Transport riser reactor; Palm oil; Bio-gasoline; Design of experiments

1. Introduction eral other studies on the production of hydrocarbons from

Biofuel is defined as liquid or gaseous fuel that can be
produced from the utilization of biomass substrates and
can serve as a (partial) substitute for fossil fuels (Giam-
pietro et al., 1997). Biofuel produced from natural vegeta-
ble oil or fats can be used as transportation fuel or fuel
additive in the vehicles to reduce their emissions. Plant oils
are attracting increased attention in this respect (Bhatia
et al., 2003). Plant oils are those oils that are derived from
plant resources such as palm oil.
Realizing that palm oil is one of the nation’s economic
pillars and catalyst of rural development, Palm Oil
Research Institute of Malaysia (PORIM) has developed a
process based on palm oil, as a substitute diesel by convert-
ing it into methyl esters (biodiesel) by reaction with meth-
anol and have extensively tested as a substitute for diesel
(Choo and Ma, 1996). Biodiesel is suitable for diesel
engines. The gasoline engines need bio-gasoline to be pro-
duced from palm oil. In recent years, there have been sev-
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +60 4 5996409; fax: +60 4 5941013.
E-mail address: chbhatia@eng.usm.my (S. Bhatia).
palm oil mainly bio-gasoline (Twaiq et al., 1999; Yean-
Sang, 2004) which have been carried out using cracking
catalysts in a micro-reactor. Zeolites have shown excellent
performance as solid acid cracking catalysts due to their
higher selectivity (Leng et al., 1999).
Since the introduction of catalytic cracking, the initial
catalysts were clays and amorphous silica alumina and
evolved with time to zeolites, particularly the use of Rare
earth-Y (REY) and, finally, to the Ultrastable-Y (USY),
REUSY and multi-zeolite catalysts used today. However,
modern fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) catalysts are still
composed of crystalline zeolite Y which is surrounded
and held together by an amorphous silica/alumina matrix.
Catalytic cracking of vegetable oil for liquid hydrocarbon
production was studied over various microporous catalysts
(Sharma and Bakhshi, 1991; Katikaneni et al., 1995; Twaiq
et al., 1999) as well as mesoporous catalysts (Twaiq et al.,
2003a,b). In this direct catalytic conversion process, the
choice of shape selective catalyst controls the type of fuel
and its yield in the organic liquid product. The properties
of catalysts are governed by acidity, pore shape and size
(Bhatia, 1990). Various types of zeolite catalysts used in

0960-8524/$ - see front matter  2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2006.11.028
3594 P. Tamunaidu, S. Bhatia / Bioresource Technology 98 (2007) 3593–3601
the catalytic cracking for liquid fuel production from gas
oil, vegetable oil, palm oil and waste fatty acid mixtures
have been reported in the literature (Sharma and Bakhshi,
1991; Twaiq et al., 1999; Leng et al., 1999; Gary and Hand-
werk, 2001; Yean-Sang et al., 2003, 2004a,b,c).
Catalytic cracking is one of the routes for obtaining gas-
oline and other lighter products from petroleum. Different
reaction systems have been described for studying catalytic
cracking at the laboratory scale. Three different types of
catalytic reactor are currently employed for the laboratory
evaluation of cracking catalysts. These can be classified as
fixed bed, fluidized bed and entrained flow reactors. One of
the most common systems used for catalytic cracking stud-
ies of gas oil is the fixed bed micro-activity test or MAT
unit (Corma et al., 1990).
In case of catalytic cracking of palm oil Twaiq et al.
(1999, 2001, 2003a,b, 2004), have reported an extensive
work on catalytic cracking of palm oil using micro and
mesoporous materials as cracking catalysts in a micro-reac-
tor. Problems associated with coking and limited feed/
catalyst contact within the reactor make continuous
processing difficult in fixed-bed reactors. Without good
contact of feed and catalyst, the formation of large
amounts of residue are likely, and scale-up to industrial
scale is not feasible. In order to increase the gasoline yield,
and at the same time, to reduce the yields of coke, many
researchers found that short contact times (SCT) between
the catalyst and oil vapors and high temperatures are
favorable. The riser cracking process has usually been
adopted. In present research, the need for a continuously
circulating catalyst after or without regeneration is neces-
sary to evaluate catalysts as well as various feed stocks.
The results obtained will be fulfilling the needs of the indus-
try and eases the process scale up.
From an economic point of view, optimization of oper-
ating conditions in catalytic cracking of palm oil will be
beneficial. There are classical as well as statistical method-
ologies available for process optimizations. Statistical
methodologies involve the use of mathematical methods
for designing and analyzing results. The response surface
methodology (RSM) is a statistical modeling technique
employed for multiple regression analysis using quantita-
tive data obtained from properly designed experiments to
solve multivariable equations simultaneously. The benefits
of using statistical approach with minimum number of
experiments to obtain the optimum operating conditions
have drawn interest of the researcher for complex reac-
tions. Previous studies by Twaiq et al. (2001) and Yean-
Sang (2004) demonstrated the use of design of experiments
(DOE) in the study of palm oil cracking process to opti-
mize the significant reaction parameters.
The objective of the present research is to optimize the
process operating conditions for the production of gasoline
fraction in liquid hydrocarbon fuel from palm oil using
DOE and response surface methodology. The gasoline
fraction is produced from palm oil using REY as a crack-
ing catalyst in a transport riser reactor.
2. Methods
2.1. Crude palm oil
Palm oil, unlike other oils, is composed predominantly
palmitic acid. Palmitic acid is a C16 saturated fatty acid.
Palm oil contains equal amounts of saturated and unsatu-
rated fatty acids. Crude palm oil (CPO) is easily available
in stores all over Malaysia as cooking oil. In the present
research Vesawit brand oil is used and it is in the form of
refined, bleached and deodorized palm olein. The concen-
tration of different types of fatty acids present in CPO
can be found elsewhere (Tan and Flingoh, 1981).
2.2. Catalyst
To have similar conditions of a commercial fluidization
unit, zeolite REY was used. Zeolite REY was obtained
from Albemarle Co., Singapore. Prior to use, all the cata-
lysts were pelleted, crushed and sieved to give particle sizes
ranging from 150 to 200 lm. This is based on certain tests
to identify the suitable particle size for fluidization in this
transport riser reactor. Bigger particles have certain size
and density which is not suitable for a small diameter reac-
tor, whereby most of the catalyst particles tend to clog at
the bends.
2.3. Experimental set up
In the present study, the catalytic cracking was carried
out in a transport riser reactor, which can be operated
under continuous mode. In order to generate experimental
data over a wide range of catalyst to oil (CTO) ratios,
reaction temperature and residence time, a test rig with a
transport riser reactor was designed and fabricated in the
present study. The advantages of this test rig are that the
experiments can be carried out using very short contact
times and the temperature drop is avoided by using small
amounts of injected oil. The schematic diagram of the test
rig is shown in Fig. 1. The figure is purposely spread to give
a clearer picture of the sections involved. The test rig con-
sists of five sections: (a) Catalyst feeding and preheating
section; (b) feedstock feeding and preheating section; (c)
reactor section; (d) stripping section, and (e) products
separation and collection section.
2.4. Procedure
The unit is operated manually and main operation
parameters can be adjusted at any time. The catalyst is cir-
culated using nitrogen as carrier gas. The cracking reaction
was conducted at: reaction temperature of 400–500 C;
CTO (the ratio of mass flow rates of catalyst and feedstock)
of 5, 8 and 10 g g1 whereby these variables were changed
by keeping constant the amount of catalyst and changing
the amount of oil feed; and the residence time of cracking
is 10, 20 and 30 s. These variables were chosen based on
 P. Tamunaidu, S. Bhatia / Bioresource Technology 98 (2007) 3593–3601 3595

Stripping section

Cyclone

Catalyst to be Reaction CPO

regenerated Section
Products
separation section

Cooling Condenser
water
Gas
Sampler Transport
Riser Metering
Reactor pump
Liquid
sampler Feedstock feeding
and preheating
section
Gas flow
meter

Gas
Chromatograph
Catalyst
Feeder

Catalyst feeding
and preheating
section

N2 Gas
cylinder

Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of the experimental set up.

previous studies by Twaiq et al. (2001) and Yean-Sang
(2004). Once steady state had reached in the reactor
whereby the reactor behaves in the parameters set, the
liquid product (organic and aqueous fractions) was col-
lected in a liquid sampler while the gaseous product was
collected in a gas sampling bulb.
2.5. Analysis
The gaseous products were analyzed using a HP Plot Q
capillary column (divinyl benzene/styrene porous polymer,
30 m long · 0.53 mm ID · 40 lm film thickness) equipped
with a thermal conductivity detector (TCD) and helium
as a carrier gas. The gaseous product included CO, CO2,
and C1–C5. The organic liquid product (OLP) contains a
large number of components of liquid hydrocarbons. The
OLP was analyzed using a Hewlett–Packard, Model 5890
series II chromatograph equipped with a Petrocol DH
50.2 capillary glass column (50 m long · 0.2 mm ID, film
thickness 0.5 lm) and FID detector. The composition of
OLP was defined according to the boiling range of petro-
leum products in three fractions, i.e. gasoline fraction
(60–120 C), kerosene fraction (120–180 C) and diesel
fraction (180–200 C). The boiling range of each fraction
was identified by injecting commercial samples of gasoline,
kerosene and diesel in the gas chromatograph.
3596 P. Tamunaidu, S. Bhatia / Bioresource Technology 98 (2007) 3593–3601

2.6. Experimental design and mathematical model 3. Results and discussion

The statistical method of factorial design of experiments 3.1. Design of experiments (DOE)
(DOE) eliminates the systematic errors with an estimate of
the experimental error and minimizes the number of exper- The cracking of palm oil gave organic liquid product
iments (Kuehl, 2000). Prior knowledge of the procedure is (OLP), gas, coke and water. In this study, there was insig-
generally required to produce a statistical model. The three nificant amount of coke formation. Yield of water is
steps used in the experimental design included statistical accounted for in the overall mass balance but its presence
design of experiments, estimation of coefficients through was not an important parameter to be predicted using
a mathematical model with response prediction, and anal- the DOE. Therefore, optimization for water was not done.
ysis of the model’s applicability. Since the gasoline fraction Percentage of gasoline fraction yield in OLP is however an
is the most desired product, thus the optimum operating important product fraction in determining the optimum
conditions (independent variables) were determined to process parameters. Table 2 summarizes the activity and
maximize its yield (response). The experiments were con- main product distribution of catalytic cracking of CPO
ducted with three response variables in central composite which is conversion, yield of OLP, yield of Gasoline and
design (CCD) with a rotatable value of 0.5. Temperature, yield of Gas in wt% at different residence time, temperature
residence time and catalyst to oil (CTO) ratio were chosen and CTO.
as independent variables in the experiment (CCD), each Table 2 shows that the conversion of crude palm oil
considered at three levels namely; low (1), central (0), (CPO) was high and ranged from 55.0 to 94.0 wt%. The
and high (1) as shown in Table 1. conversion of CPO increased steadily with temperature
Accordingly, 20 experiments were conducted with the and residence time. The highest palm oil conversion was
first 15 experiments organized in a factorial design and 93.5 wt% at 500 C and 30 s. Similar trends were achieved
the remaining 5 involving the replication of the central by Twaiq (2002) and Yean-Sang (2004) whereby the con-
points for each stage. In order to carry out a compre- version of feed increased with temperature and residence
hensive analysis of the catalytic cracking process, 4 main time. However, the conversion reduced with catalyst to
dependent responses were considered which were; conver- oil ratio of 5–10 g g1. The conversion of palm oil is impor-
sions of CPO (PC), yield of OLP (YOLP), yield of Gasoline tant but higher conversion of palm oil may not result in
(YG) and yield of Gases (YGas). The conversion and yield of higher yield of organic products.
the products are defined as: On the other hand, OLP yields were found to decrease
The performance of these catalysts was measured in with the increase of CTO from 5–10 g g1. However, it
terms of conversion, yield and selectivity of the products. showed a steady increase in the value from 49.6 wt% to
The conversion, yield and selectivity of the products are 68.6 wt%, with the increase in temperature from 400 to
defined as:
Conversion ðwt%Þ Table 2
½GasðgÞ þ OLPðgÞ þ WaterðgÞ þ CokeðgÞ Experimental matrix and results
¼ Temperature CTO Residence PC YOLP YGASOLINE YGAS
CPO FeedðgÞ
(C) ratio time (s)
 100% ð3:1Þ (g g1)
Desired ProductðgÞ 400 5 10 58.2 49.6 50.0 21.5
Yield ðwt%Þ ¼  100% ð3:2Þ
CPO FeedðgÞ 400 5 30 59.0 51.8 51.7 22.1
400 10 10 55.2 47.5 49.5 19.9
Model terms were selected or rejected based on the P values 400 10 30 60.8 48.9 50.6 20.4
with 95% confidence level. The results were completely 425 8 20 62.5 64.0 55.9 25.8
analyzed using analysis of variance (ANOVA) by Design 450 6 20 74.9 69.5 59.1 26.0
450 8 15 70.5 67.0 57.2 26.7
Expert software. Three-dimensional plots were obtained 450 8 20 71.0 68.6 57.7 28.7
based on the effect of the three factors and their levels. From 450 8 25 73.0 67.7 58.0 28.2
these three-dimensional plots, the simultaneous interaction 450 9 20 70.9 67.4 57.5 26.0
of the three factors on the responses was studied. 475 8 20 77.8 66.5 56.2 32.7
500 5 10 90.0 57.0 52.9 36.0
500 5 30 93.5 59.7 54.0 38.1
Table 1 500 10 10 86.4 55.2 50.5 34.5
Real and coded independent variables used in model 500 10 30 88.2 56.0 51.0 37.0
Factor Factor Unit Low Central High Repeated runs
code (1) (0) (1) 450 8 20 71.5 68.3 57.8 28.0
Reaction temperature A C 400 450 500 450 8 20 72.1 68.5 57.7 28.6
Catalyst/CPO (CTO) B g/g 5 8 10 450 8 20 71.3 69.0 57.9 27.5
ratio 450 8 20 72.5 68.2 57.8 27.5
Residence time C s 10 20 30 450 8 20 71.6 68.6 57.6 27.9
 P. Tamunaidu, S. Bhatia / Bioresource Technology 98 (2007) 3593–3601 3597

450 C and then the yield gradually dropped to 55.2 wt% at 80

500 C, leaving an optimum value in a temperature range 70
of 450–475 C. OLP decreased significantly with tempera-
60
ture indicating that a major fraction of OLP was converted

to gas. The OLP yield also increased with residence time of
10–20 s and then dropped at 30 s. This trend is noticed at
450 C at CTO of 8 from 15–25 s. This is possibly due to
too long a reaction time and liquid products tend to con-
vert further into gas products.
The highest OLP yield is achieved at palm oil conversion
of 74.9 wt%. This explains that the maximum conversion of
palm oil does not imply that it is the best process parameter
value to be chosen. Lost in OLP yield has a huge impact on
the yield of desired products like gasoline, kerosene and
diesel fraction. Higher temperatures ranging from 475–
500 C and residence time of 30 s may have caused the lost
in OLP yield. This signifies that these ranges are not suit-
able for obtaining a high yield in OLP.
Our main interest in this research is yield of gasoline
fraction. The gasoline fraction yield showed the same trend
as OLP yield but the increase in respect of reaction temper-
ature was greater compared to OLP. The amount of gaso-
line fraction increased from over 50.0 wt% at 400 C to
over 58.0 wt% at 450 C and thereafter decreased to less
than 55.0 wt% at 500 C. The highest gasoline fraction
value of 59.1 wt% was achieved at 450 C, CTO of 6 and
residence time of 20 s. However, the gasoline yield reduced
with CTO of 5–10 g g1. Gasoline product distributions
varied as the residence time increased from 10 to 20 s and
dropped at 30 s possibly due to further cracking of the
product.
The yield of gaseous products increased linearly with the
reaction temperature, achieving its highest value of
38.1 wt% at 500 C, CTO of 5 g g1 and residence time
of 30 s. The gas yield was the lowest at 400 C with
21.5 wt%. The yield of gaseous products increased with
the increase in residence time from 36.0 wt% at 10 s to
38.1 wt% at 30 s for 500 C at CTO of 5. The gas yields
were not very significant for CTO from 5 to 10 g g1.
However, a 1.0 wt% rise in yield was observed from CTO
of 5–10 g g1.
Fig. 2 shows the OLP yield, gasoline yield and gas pro-
duction against conversion. It is noted that the increase in
conversion does not determine the maximum yield of OLP
and gasoline fraction. It is also noted that gas production
increased with conversion. This is due to cracking with
the increase in temperatures and residence time.
In all the runs, the overall mass balance was within an
error of ±10%. The five repeated experiments at the central
level were done in order to check their reproducibility. The
data showed an experimental error of ±5% between the
readings indicating the accuracy in data acquired at that
point. However, in general the yield of organic liquid prod-
uct as well as the gasoline fraction increased at the expense
of the gaseous products. This is possibly due to secondary
cracking reactions, which is not possible at lower reaction
temperature.
Yield (wt%)
50
40
30
OLP
20
Gasoline
10
Gas
0
50 75 100
Conversion (wt%)
Fig. 2. OLP yield, gasoline fraction yield and gas yield against conversion
of palm oil.
3.2. Statistical analysis
Since several variables were studied, thus the conditions
which significantly affected the product distribution were to
be identified statistically. Since the relationship between the
independent variables and response variable was unknown,
it was estimated by using regression analysis program
(Design Expert Software). In order to quantify the curva-
ture effects, the data from the experimental results were fit-
ted to higher degree polynomial equations, e.g. two factor
interaction (2FI), quadratic and so on. ANOVA analysis
showed that experimental data are best fitted into a qua-
dratic equation. ANOVA for quadratic model was carried
out to establish its significance. Therefore, the analysis of
variance (ANOVA) was performed at 95% level of confi-
dence for the designed experiments. The quadratic model
for palm oil conversion in terms of coded factors is repre-
sented as Eq. (3.3). The model F-value was used to check
that the model is significant under 95% level of confidence.
Values of ‘‘P > F ’’ (ANOVA table) less than 0.0500 indi-
cate that the model terms are significant. Eqs. (3.3)–(3.6)
were chosen to fit the data after elimination of insignificant
variables and their interactions.
Statistical model (built with the codified factors):
P C ¼ þ71:63 þ 15:87A  1:69B þ 1:02C  4:23A2 þ 4:04B2
þ 2:17C2  0:68AB ð3:3Þ
2
Y OLP ¼ þ68:65 þ 3:69A  1:34B þ 0:88C  11:92A
 3:52C2  0:34BC ð3:4Þ
2
Y Gasoline ¼ þ57:91 þ 0:80A  0:91B þ 0:57C  6:94A
þ 1:05B2  0:74C2  0:48AB
 0:15AC  0:15BC ð3:5Þ
2
Y Gas ¼ þ28:20 þ 7:66A  0:67B þ 0:76C þ 6:27A
 5:79B2 þ 0:44AC ð3:6Þ
where the values of A, B and C are in terms of coded fac-
tor, i.e. 1, 0 and 1 whereby A represents temperature, B
represents catalyst to CPO ratio and C represents residence
3598 P. Tamunaidu, S. Bhatia / Bioresource Technology 98 (2007) 3593–3601
time. In order for a model to be reliable, the results should
be predicted with reasonable accuracy by the model and
compared with the experimental results.
Based on statistical analysis, the models were highly sig-
nificant with very low probability values of <0.0001. It was
noted that the model terms of independent variables were
significant at 99% confidence level. The square of corre-
lation coefficient for each response was computed as the
coefficient of determination, R2. It showed high significant
regression at 95% confidence level. The test of the model
adequacy was done through lack-of-fit F-tests (Montgom-
ery, 1997). The lack of fit was not statistically significant
as the probability values were greater than 0.05. Adequate
precision is a measure of range in predicted response rela-
tive to the associated error or, in simpler words, a signal to
noise ratio. Its desired value is 4 or more. It is noted that
the values were found to be desirable for all models. Simul-
taneously, low values of the coefficient of variation, CV
ranging from 0.33% to 1.71% indicated good precision
and reliability of the experiments (Kuehl, 2000).
In order for a model to be reliable, the results should be
predicted with reasonable accuracy by the model and com-
pared with the experimental results. Values greater than
80% should be achieved for a good agreement between
experimental data and predicted values. A comparison
between the experimental values with the simulated values
of conversion and OLP yield gave values of correlation
coefficient of 0.9966 and 0.9985, respectively. The value
of correlation coefficient for the gasoline fraction and gas
was 0.9985 and 0.9943, respectively.
19.931
17.4785
Gasoline
15.0259
12.5734
10.1209
10. 00
8.75
7.50
B:C/O
Fig. 3. Response surface plot for gasoline fraction yield obtained from the statistical model over REY for residence time of 20 s.
Response surfaces can also be visualized as three-dimen-
sional plots that present the response as a function of two
factors, while keeping the third one constant. Three-dimen-
sional plots for the yield of gasoline fraction obtained from
Eq. (3.5) are plotted in Figs. 3 and 4, respectively. In Fig. 4,
residence time remained constant at 20 s, whereas in Fig. 5,
CTO is remained constant at 5 g g1. Fig. 4 shows that an
optimum reaction temperature is obtained in the range of
450 C. The gasoline yield increased with the decrease of
CTO ratio at higher temperatures within the experimental
range. Fig. 4 show those high gasoline fractions are concen-
trated to a contour focal point at 450 C and residence time
of 20 s. Three-dimensional plots for the yield of gases frac-
tion are also plotted in Fig. 5. The gas yield increased with
the increase of temperature and also residence time.
3.3. Process optimization
There are many methods available to optimize a process.
In this research, numerical optimization is chosen. Numer-
ical optimization presents a comprehensive and up-to-date
description of the most effective methods in continuous
optimization. It responds to the growing interest in optimi-
zation in engineering, science, and business by focusing on
the methods that are best suited to practical problems. In
the numerical optimization, conversion, yield of OLP and
yield of gasoline is set to a maximum range whereas gas
yield as minimum as possible. Even though in the DOE
earlier percentage of gasoline fraction yield in OLP is dis-
cussed, here the wt% of gasoline is taken into consideration
500.00
475.00
450.00
6.25 425.00
A: Temperature
5.00 400.00
 P. Tamunaidu, S. Bhatia / Bioresource Technology 98 (2007) 3593–3601 3599

58.0191

55.6912
Gasoline
53.3633

51.0354

48.7075

30.00
500.00
25.00
475.00
20.00
450.00
C:Residense time 15.00 425.00
A:Temperature
10.00 400.00

Fig. 4. Response surface plot for gasoline fraction yield obtained from the statistical model over REY for CTO of 5 g g1.

to make easier comparisons with all the future work carried The optimum values of reaction temperature of 450 C,
out along this direction. The desired criteria are summa- CTO of 5 g g1 and residence time of 20 s were obtained
rized in Table 3. for maximum yield of OLP and gasoline fraction. Several

45.1262

40.3287
Gas

35.5312

30.7337

25.9362

30.00
500.00
25.00
475.00
20.00
450.00
C:Residense time 15.00 425.00
A:Temperature
10.00 400.00

Fig. 5. Response surface plot for gaseous product yield obtained from the statistical model over REY for CTO of 5 g g1.
3600 P. Tamunaidu, S. Bhatia / Bioresource Technology 98 (2007) 3593–3601

Table 3 affecting the yield of gasoline fraction were reaction tem-

Optimization criteria perature, residence time and CTO ratio. The optimum
Criteria Goal Lower limit Upper limit reaction conditions were reaction temperature of 450 C,
(wt%) (wt%) residence time of 20 s and CTO of 5 g g1. The quadratic
Conversion Maximum 55 95 model proposed was in good agreement with the experi-
Organic liquid product Maximum 50 80 mental data within 95% confidence. The cracking of CPO
(OLP)
Gasoline fraction Maximum 30 50
gave 75.8 wt% conversion with OLP yield of 53.5 wt%
Gas Minimum 10 30 containing gasoline fraction of 33.5 wt% and gas yield of
14.2 wt%. The palm oil can be utilized to produce value
added product such as liquid fuel using catalytic technol-
Table 4 ogy. The transport riser reactor was suitable for the contin-
Aromatics content in OLP (wt%) uous production of biofuel from cracking of CPO over
CPO REY catalyst. The yield of different products obtained
Aromatics 400 C 450 C from cracking process can be adequately predicted using
Benzene 2.8 4.1
the response surface model.
Toluene 13.0 17.0
Xylene 14.9 19.5 Acknowledgements

The research Grant provided by MOSTE (02-02-02-

experiments were conducted at these optimum conditions
in order to verify the accuracy of the model proposed.
The conversion of CPO was an average of 75.8 wt% as
compared to simulated value of 77.8 wt% which was
2 wt% lower. The gasoline fraction yield was an average
of 34.5 wt% compared to simulated value of 36.0 wt%
which was 1.5 wt% lower. The proposed statistical model
was adequate for predicting the conversion and products
yield from catalytic cracking of CPO within the experimen-
tal error of ±5% and range of operating conditions.
Organic liquid product (OLP) was also examined for its
aromatic hydrocarbon content. The aromatics were exam-
ined for OLP from the cracking of CPO at temperatures of
400 C and 450 C to observe the effect of temperature. The
aromatics content in OLP are summarized in Table 4.
As the temperature increased from 400 to 450 C, it is
noted that the aromatic hydrocarbon content for both feed
stocks also increased. Among the aromatic hydrocarbons,
toluene and xylene were the main products. Benzene con-
tent in the aromatics product was low. This could be a
merit for the gasoline produced as benzene has carcino-
genic characteristic and pollutant to the air (Zhang and
Smirniotis, 1998).
The gas product compositions were also examined. The
olefin content of the gas phase is of major interest. The gas
composition consisted entirely of hydrocarbon gases (C1–
C5), CO and CO2. The gas composition consist high C2–
C4 olefin fraction. Ethylene (5–7 wt%) and propylene
(9–15 wt%) are valuable and of high interest in the petro-
chemical industry where they are used as building blocks
for the production of polyethylene, polypropylene and
methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE).
4. Conclusions
REY produced an organic liquid product rich in gaso-
line fraction from the catalytic cracking of palm oil in a
transport riser reactor. The important process variables
2184 EA005) is gratefully acknowledged that resulted in
this article. The authors are thankful to Albemarle Com-
pany, Singapore for providing free samples of cracking
catalyst REY for this research work.
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