Simultaneous heterogeneous fluid catalytic conversion and recovery of bio aviation fuel from Jatropha oil using a low cost NiMo oxalate activated carbon catalyst with nonlinear kinetics and thermodynamics modeling

A new approach and catalyst system for the simultaneous heterogeneous fluid-catalytic conversion and recovery (SFCCR) of bio-aviation fuel from Jatropha seed oil (JO) was investigated. The oxalates of bimetallic nano-particles of Nickel–Molybdenum supported on activated carbon (NiMo-Ox/AC) were synthesized and used as the catalyst. The nonlinear kinetics, thermodynamics, and effects of process variables on bio-aviation fuel from Jatropha seed oil (JO) were studied. The nonlinear kinetic models of pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order models were investigated. The process variables studied include the SFCCR temperature, catalyst loading, and conversion time. The thermodynamics parameters such as Gibb free energy, enthalpy, and entropy were determined. The results revealed that bio-aviation fuel yield increased with an increase in temperature, catalyst loading, and conversion time. The maximum bio-aviation fuel yield of 90% was obtained at the reaction conditions of 395 °C, 5 g of catalyst loading, and 60 min. The pseudo-second-order kinetic model gave a better fit to the experimental data than the pseudo-first-order model The average values of the sum of the root mean squared error (RMSE), squares of errors (SSE), coefficient of determination (R 2 ), and adjusted coefficient of determination (adj-R 2 ) for pseudo-second-order model as the best-fitted model is as follows: 1.046, 6.65, 0.9314 and 0.9085, respectively. The Gibb free energy, enthalpy, and entropy values of the SFCCR of the bio-aviation fuel process at 658 K and 0.3 mm were − 11.06 kJ/mol, 340.94 kJ/mol, and 0.53 kJ/mol, respectively, indicating spontaneity, irreversibility, and endothermic nature of the SFCCR of the bio-aviation fuel process. The production of bio-aviation fuel from the proposed new technique is very promising and attractive.