Upgrading/Deacidification of Biofuels (Gasoline, Kerosene, and Diesel-like Hydrocarbons) by Adsorption Using Activated Red-Mud-Based Adsorbents

This study explored the adsorption of carboxylic acids, especially free fatty acids (FFAs), present in biofuel (distilled fractions of bio-oil such as gasoline-like hydrocarbons, kerosene-like hydrocarbons, and diesel-like hydrocarbons) using red-mud-based adsorbents. The red mud was thermally activated at 40 °C and 600 °C and chemically activated with 0.25M, 1M, and 2M HCl. Analytical techniques were used to characterize the adsorbents’ properties. At the same time, the study examined factors like feed type, adsorbents, FFA contents, adsorbent percentage, activation temperature, acid solution concentration, and contact time to assess adsorption efficiency. The characterization results indicated that chemical activation with 0.25M HCl significantly increased the surface area to 84.3290 m2/g, surpassing that of the thermally activated samples (35.2450 m2/g at 400 °C). Adsorption experiments demonstrated that all chemically activated samples, with 5% adsorbent, adsorbed over 2000 mg of FFAs per gram of adsorbent, with CARM-1M HCl achieving 100% removal of acids from gasoline-like hydrocarbons. Kinetic modeling showed that the pseudo-second-order model best represented the adsorption data, as evidenced by high R2 values and close agreement between the experimental and calculated qe values. Therefore, adsorption with chemically activated red mud efficiently deacidifies biofuels, providing a cost-effective and promising approach for their upgrading.