Preparation and upgrading of hydrocarbon oil from deoxy-liquefaction of oil crop

Deoxy-liquefaction of cotton seed in husk was carried out to produce hydrocarbon oil at different temperatures (400–500 °C). Results indicated that at 450 °C, the obtained oil had a maximum alkanes value of 49.58% with a low oxygen content (1.4%) resulting in the increase of HHV (43.8 MJ kg−1), whereas the oil contained considerable nitrogenous compounds. In the presence of γ-Al2O3–CuO catalyst, at 450 °C nitrogen content in the oil dropped 20%, exhibiting the activity of catalysis for denitrification, when the content of alkanes rose to 54.91%; by vacuum distillation, the oil was then separated into light/heavy fractions which showed that they both possessed rich carbon and hydrogen with low oxygen contents. The light fractions were much the same as that of gasoline, while the heavy fractions were close to diesel, which laid the foundation of further treatment and applications.