Catalytic hydroprocessing of cottonseed oil in petroleum diesel mixtures for production of renewable diesel

The conversion of the esters included in refined cottonseed oil into hydrocarbon molecules compatible with petroleum diesel, which are named renewable diesel, has been studied at conventional hydrotreatment conditions. The vegetable oil was fed in mixture with desulphurized petroleum diesel to the hydrotreater containing a conventional CoMo/Al2O3 hydrotreatment catalyst. Conversion of esters was determined in the temperature range of 305–345 °C, at 30 bar and for 5 h−1 < WHSV < 25 h−1. Catalyst deactivation was followed for a period of 450 h in operation. A simple kinetic model of ester conversion suitable for scale-up and simulation studies has been tested.