An innovative method to produce drop-in fuel by alkaline earth-transition metals basic soap decarboxylation

Abstract

Decarboxylation of metal soap is an emerging method to produce drop-in fuels as an alternative to the expensive hydrotreatment process. In this study, the Mg-Fe basic soap produced from palm kernel fatty acid had been successfully decarboxylated into jet-fuel type biohydrocarbons. The Mg-Fe basic soap with ratio of 8:2 mol was decarboxylated for 5 hours at atmospheric pressure and temperature varied up to 370°C; it produced a liquid product whose yield was around 60 %-weight. The resulting hydrocarbon product was a complex mixture consisted of normal paraffins in the range of carbon chain length C8-C17, iso-and cyclo-paraffins, and various olefin products.