Fluidized bed steam cracking of rapeseed oil: exploring the direct production of the molecular building blocks for the plastics industry

Abstract

Fossil-based production of plastics represents a serious sustainability challenge. The use of renewable and biogenic resources as feedstocks in the plastic industry is imminent. Thermochemical conversion enables the production of the molecular building blocks of plastic materials from widely available biogenic resources. Waste cooking oil (WCO) represents a significant fraction of these resources. This work provides insights into the thermochemical conversion of the fatty acids present in WCO, where rapeseed oil is used as the source of fatty acids. The experimental results reveal that fluidized bed steam cracking of rapeseed oil in the temperature range of 650–750 °C yields a product distribution rich in light olefins and mono aromatics. Up to 51% of light olefins, 15% of mono aromatics, and 13% of light paraffins were recovered through steam cracking. This means that up to 70% of the carbon in rapeseed oil was converted into molecular building blocks in a single step. The main conclusion from this study is that WCO and vegetable oils represent viable biogenic feedstocks for the direct production of the molecular building blocks, where the conversion is achieved through steam cracking in fluidized beds. Graphical abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.].