Enhanced production of liquid fuel via catalytic cracking of used sunflower oil catalyzed by Praseodymium supported alumina

The production of alternative fuel from the cracking process (CP) of waste cooking oil (WCO) is considered an efficient way to displace the used fossil fuel. The catalytic cracking process was evaluated using praseodymium oxide-supported alumina. The prepared catalysts were characterized by advanced techniques such as XRD, BET, IR, TGA, SEM, and TEM. Different parameters such as praseodymium loading, effect of temperature and effect of catalyst concentration were studied and investigated. The data revealed that the maximum conversion was found to be ∼ 92 % at Pr weight loading of 10 %, temperature of 350 °C, and catalyst weight as a percent of WCO weight is 0.6 %. The routine analysis established that the specifications of the resulting fuel indicate that it conforms to international specifications of fossil fuel. The gas chromatography proved that the percent of hydrocarbons from C5-C16 represents 41.5 % of the liquid biofuel.