Hydroprocessing of sunflower oil–gas oil blends over sulfided Ni–Mo–Al–zeolite beta composites

Mixtures of sunflower oil and a straight run gas oil in the diesel fuel range were hydroprocessed over sulfided NiO(3%)–MoO3(12%)–γ-Al2O3 incorporating 0, 15 or 30 wt.% zeolite beta (BEA). The studies were carried out at 320–350 °C; 30–60 bars, and weight hourly space velocities (WHSV), 1–4 h−1. Catalyst containing 30% BEA achieved nearly 100 % conversion of the vegetable oil into hydrocarbons at 330 °C, 60 bars and a WHSV of 2 h−1 compared to 95.5% by the Ni–Mo–γ-alumina catalyst without BEA. Hydroprocessing with blends containing oleic acid revealed that the catalysts were able to transform the acid into hydrocarbons. An analysis of the ratios of the n-C18 and n-C17 paraffins formed from the vegetable oil at different process conditions revealed that the catalyst containing 15% BEA was most active for hydrodeoxygenation. The gas oil-hydrodesulfurization activity of the Ni–Mo–Al2O3 was enhanced by the addition of BEA by more than 10%.