Recovery of useful chemicals from oil palm shell-derived oil using zirconia supporting iron oxide catalysts

Abstract

The possibility for recovering methanol, acetic acid and phenol from oil palm shell-derived oil was investigated. Thermal cracking mainly produced a solid residue and was not a suitable method for recovering these three target chemicals. When zirconia supporting iron based catalyst (Zr/FeOx, Zr-FeOx or Zr-Al-FeOx) was applied, the “others”—unidentified hydrocarbons—were satisfactorily removed without formation of a solid residue while these target compounds were considerably stable over these catalysts. Zr-Al-FeOx showed the highest activity for oxidation of the oil to CO₂. Effect of operating parameters (steam to oil ratio, temperature and time factor) on its performance was further investigated. In order to gain insight into the reaction path, the reaction using model compounds (methanol, acetic acid, acetone, ethyl acetate and phenol) was performed.