Ni-Fe-Zn/AC trimetallic oxides for catalytic cracking of waste cooking oil to produce renewable fuel

Interest in converting waste cooking oil (WCO) into clean, renewable fuel is gaining momentum driven by its potential to bolster the circular economy and mitigate WCO-related pollution issues. Catalytic cracking emerges as a promising route for converting WCO into sustainable fuel, with the catalyst playing a pivotal role. However, a persistent challenge in catalytic cracking has been the catalyst deactivation due to coke formation. It has been found that metal catalyst supported on Activated Carbon (AC) works well for catalytic cracking. This study investigated catalyst activity of trimetallic catalyst in catalytic cracking of WCO. It appears that the trimetallic oxide enhances the active sites crucial for catalytic cracking performance. Particularly, Ni-Fe-Zn/AC has demonstrated exceptional performance, exhibiting high liquid yield and minimal coke formation. The reactions were carried out in a batch reactor at 400°C for a duration of one hour. Through the liquid analysis, Ni-Fe-Zn/AC showed a remarkable result that yielded 92.42 wt% liquid product with 52.44% hydrocarbons and coke formation of merely 0.05 wt%. This study demonstrated the superiority of trimetallic catalyst over monometallic and bimetallic catalyst in terms of suppressing coke formation and enhancing liquid yield. This finding shows that trimetal synergy considerably improves catalyst activity in catalytic cracking of WCO.