2nd Report on the project activity-"Catalytic Studies in the HDO processes of vegetable oils"

Deliverable 2:- Activity 2 a-c -Testing and analysis of the catalysts The activity carried out from January 2022 to July 2022 has regarded the objectives described into the sub-activities "Activity 1" and "Activity 2 a-c" of the Technical annex. In details, the "Activity 1" has been devoted to the recognition and analysis of the state-of-the-art regarding the hydrotreating (HDT) process of vegetable oils, with particular concerns on the hydro-deoxygenation (HDO) of rapeseed oil for the production of bio-fuels (see 1st Report of Project Activity CATALYTIC STUDIES IN HDO PROCESSES-Deliverable 1). The "Activity 2" has regarded the testing and analysis of the catalysts with the execution of catalytic tests in the HDO of rapeseed oil (point a), the definition of indexes of performance of catalyst in the HDO processes of vegetable oil (point b), and the assessment of the catalytic activity (hydrogen consumption, apparent kinetic constant of the global hydrogenation reactions and selectivity (decarboxylation vs. hydrogenation) into the HDO reaction (point c). As concern the research activity defined in point 2, this document presents the results obtained in the catalytic study of two systems, an in-situ sulfided Fresh (code U350421) and a pre-sulfided Totsucat sample (code U360421), provided by EURECAT SA. At this purpose, several catalytic tests have been carried out, with the aim of defining the optimal operative conditions and analytical set-up for the test, proving the reliability and repeatability of the catalytic measurements, and assessing the catalytic behaviour of the two catalysts in the HDO process of rapeseed oil.