Martin Mittelbach
University of Graz, Austria
Title: Hydrotreatment of waste fats and oils with heterogeneous catalysis for tailor made production of biofuels
Biography
Biography: Martin Mittelbach
Abstract
Especially for fats and oils with high content of saturated fatty acids, hydrotreatment is an alternative to trans-esterifi cation to obtain high quality alternative diesel fuels. A comparison of fuel properties of fatty acid methyl esters and hydrotreated fatty acid material is given. Heterogeneous catalysts, based on Ni and Co impregnated alumosilicates were prepared and used as catalysts for the hydrotreatment of animal fat as well as tall oil. Th e infl uence of reaction conditions like time, temperature and type of catalyst has been investigated. The aim of the study was a combined hydrotreatment as well as isomerization with high yield in one step. It could be shown that depending on the reaction conditions high quality products could be obtained from each feedstock, leading to products with low sulphur content and good cold temperature behaviour in one-step reaction. The catalysts could be reused successfully without signifi cant loss of activity. Even the rosin acids in tall oil, which cannot be converted by classical transesterifi cation reaction, were totally converted to valuable hydrocarbons by hydrotreatment. Advantages and disadvantages of both options for the conversion of fatty acid material, either transesterifi cation or hydrotreatment are compared and discussed.