EVEN CARBON NUMBER PARAFFIN COMPOSITION AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURING SAME
Paraffin compositions including mainly even carbon number paraffins, and a method for manufacturing the same, is disclosed herein. In one embodiment, the method involves contacting naturally occurring fatty acid/glycerides with hydrogen in a slurry bubble column reactor containing bimetallic catalysts with equivalent particle diameters from about 10 to about 400 micron. The even carbon number compositions are particularly useful as phase change material.
1 . A process for producing hydrocarbons from biomass, comprising the steps of:
(a) providing a biological feedstock containing free fatty acids, fatty acid esters, or combinations thereof; and
(b) subjecting the biological feedstock to heat in the presence of hydrogen with a catalyst slurry having an equivalent particle diameter of about 10 microns to about 400 microns to produce hydrocarbons which are predominantly even carbon number paraffins.
2 . The process of claim 1 wherein the renewable biological feedstock comprises vegetable oils, plant oils, algal oils, animal fats, tall oil fatty acid, products of the food industry such as greases, and combinations thereof.
3 . The process of claim 1 wherein the step of subjecting the biological feedstock to heat in the presence of hydrogen and the catalyst occurs in a plurality of reactors.
4 . The process of claim 1 wherein the step of subjecting the biological feedstock to heat in the present of hydrogen and the catalyst occurs in a slurry bubble column reactor.
5 . The process of claim 4 wherein heat of reaction is removed by circulation of a heat transfer fluid.
6 . The process of claim 4 wherein heat of reaction is removed by water vaporization.
7 . The process of claim 1 wherein the step of subjecting the biological feedstock to heat in the present of hydrogen and the catalyst occurs in a mechanically stirred reactor.
8 . The process of claim 7 wherein heat of reaction is removed by circulation of a heat transfer fluid.
9 . The process of claim 7 wherein heat of reaction is removed by water vaporization.
10 . The process of claim 9 wherein water vaporization is used to produce high pressure steam.
11 . The process of claim 1 wherein the catalyst is a supported nickel-molybdenum, nickel-tungsten, or cobalt-molybdenum catalyst.
12 . The process of claim 11 wherein the catalyst support is aluminum oxide, aluminum or aluminum with phosphorous oxides.
13 . The process of claim 1 wherein the catalyst is a modified nickel-aluminum or cobalt-aluminum sponge-metal catalyst.
14 . The process of claim 13 wherein the modifier for the sponge-metal catalyst is molybdenum.
15 . The process of claim 1 wherein the catalyst has an equivalent particle diameter of about 30 to about 80 microns.
16 . The process of claim 1 wherein at least about 75 wt % of the n-paraffins are even carbon number n-paraffins.
17 . The process of claim 16 wherein the even carbon number paraffins comprise n-octadecane and n-hexadecane.
18 . The process of claim 16 wherein the even carbon number paraffins comprise n-octadecane and n-docosane.
19 . The process of claim 1 wherein at least about 80 wt % of the paraffins are even carbon number paraffins.
20 . The process of claim 19 wherein the even carbon number paraffins comprise n-octadecane and n-hexadecane.
21 . The process of claim 19 wherein the even carbon number paraffins comprise n-octadecane and n-docosane.