Effect of temperature and Mg-Zn catalyst ratio on decarboxylation reaction to produce green diesel from kapok oil with saponification pretreatment using NaOH

Green diesel is an emerging option to solve the increasing consumption of diesel (fossil based fuel). It involves converting readily available vegetable oils and animal fats to alkane hydrocarbons that can be considered to be drop-in replacements for petroleum-based fuel component. This review journal investigate the results of diesel-like hydrocarbon fuel by catalytic thermal decarboxylation of Mg-Zn basic soap by saponification using NaOH from kapok oil. Specifically, it outlines a comparative assessment of the operating parameters of the temperature and mole ratio of Mg-Zn catalyst to select the appropriate path based on the desired conversion, yield and selectivity. The results of the literature study show that kapok oil can produce diesel equivalent biohydrocarbon products by reviewing the main composition of the kapok oil which containing linoleic acid. An increase in the temperature of the decarboxylation reaction can increase the conversion to green diesel products, n-heptadecane. The result from previous experiment showed that the highest conversion of decarboxylation of castor oil is 65% at 475°C. However, high temperatures can cause decreased selectivity due to the production of undesirable products like in the decarboxylation experiment of soybean oil which showed that the yield at 400°C is decreased to 25%. The mole ratio of Mg-Zn used in the decarboxylation reaction does not have a significant effect on the yield of green diesel products.