Parametric studies on cracking of model compounds of bio-oil

Environmental issues and the need for security assurance for energy supply have stimulated
investigations on alternatives for fossil-based energy carriers and chemicals. Agricultural wastes
especially from palm industry in Malaysia can be converted into bio-oil that has high potential as
a fuel. Upgrading of bio-oil before utilization is required to obtain high grade fuel because of its
drawbacks such as high viscosity, low heating value, aging, high acidity and corrosiveness. This
work aims to perform a parametric study on upgrading of model bio-oil using HZSM-5 in a
continuous mode, based on organic liquid product yield and degree of de-oxygenation (DOD).
The experiment design was developed using response surface method. It was observed that
temperature imposed the most significant affect on the yield and DOD, the oil/catalysts ratio was
the second and the least was pressure. The findings from this parametric study can be used to
identify the conditions to obtain improved quality organic liquid product with maximum degree
of deoxygenation.