CATALYTIC CRACKING OF WASTE ENGINE OIL USING SNAIL SHELL ASH AS CATALYST

ABSTRACT

Alternative sources of energy are being explored. One of such energy sources is from the utilization and exploitation of waste resources such as waste engine oil. This waste engine oil can be re-refined to produce diesel-like fuel and other lighter hydrocarbon through catalytic cracking process. In this study, the efficiency of snail shell as a heterogeneous catalyst for cracking of waste engine oil was examined. Calcination of the snail shell was carried out at a temperature of 800°C for 4 hours and the derived catalyst was characterized using X-ray Fluorescence (XRF), X-ray Diffraction (XRD), and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR) methods. Catalytic cracking of the waste engine oil was done on a laboratory scale while varying the process variables of time and catalyst concentrations. The % yield of gasoline was determined at a variation of catalyst concentration between 1.0 to 2.0 g with a working temperature range of 280 ºC to 352 ºC. The reaction time was also varied for 60 mins, 90 mins, and 120 mins. The graphs obtained showed a linear relationship between the yield and the catalyst concentration with the highest yield of 27.71 %, 41.12 %, and 45.91 % at a catalyst concentration of 2 g for different time intervals of 60 mins, 90 mins, and 120 minutes respectively using an average temperature of 352 ºC. The results indicated that the yield of gasoline from the catalytic cracking of waste engine oil increases with an increase in the catalyst concentration and reaction time. Hence the snail shell derived catalyst is a suitable catalyst for the cracking process.