Production of Liquid Hydrocarbon Fuel by Catalytic Cracking of Waste Fish Fat in Continuous Pilot System

Liquid fuels can be produced from triglyceride sources via thermo-catalytic process. In the present work, the production of bio-fuel by catalytic cracking of waste fish fat in a continuous reactor at atmospheric pressure has been studied. Different catalysts were used and maximum bio-oil yield of 66% with the lowest acidity of 4.3 mg_KOH/g_oil was obtained with a controlled reaction temperature of 500°C and Na₂CO₃ as a catalyst. After chemical treatment of this bio-oil, the acidity decreases to 1.5mg_KOH/g_oil. These bio-fuels were characterized according to their physico-chemical properties, and compared with the diesel fuel. The results show that the catalytic cracking process represents an alternative method to produce bio-fuels with physico-chemical characteristics similar to petroleum fuels from fish oil industrial residues.