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-Response surface methodology was used to design and evaluate the experimental variables for Pd-B/γ-Al 2 O 3 catalyst preparation. The catalyst was prepared by impregnation and chemical reduction. Thirteen different samples of the catalyst were prepared at different KOH concentrations and annealed at various temperatures, before applying them in palm oil hydrogenation. Hydrogenation was performed on a 0.12% Pd-B/γ-Al 2 O 3 catalyst at a temperature of 393 K, hydrogen pressure of 500 kPa and agitation of 500 rpm for 1 h. The iodine value (IV) and trans fatty acids (TFAs) content responses were measured for each hydrogenated palm oil sample. The predicted models were verified for both responses and found to be statistically adequate. An optimization study was performed on the catalyst preparation variables for minimizing both IV and TFAs content. The Pd-B/γ-Al 2 O 3 prepared under optimized conditions exhibited 47% higher conversion and 22% lower trans-isomerization selectivity than Escat 1241 commercial catalyst. The Pd-B/γ-Al 2 O 3 catalyst preparation variables have a noticeable effect on palm oil hydrogenation conversion and trans-isomerization selectivity.

Thermal cracking of petroleum residue oil was conducted in a high-pressure batch reactor under various operating conditions, temperature in range 400-480°C, reaction time 40-100 min and pressure 120-180 kPa in the presence of hydrogen. Statistical design of experiment (DOE), was used to evaluate the effect of important variables in the thermal cracking of residue oil, and to obtain the optimum operating conditions. Based on the three level factorial design, quadratic model was developed to correlate the thermal cracking variables to total conversion and linear models for yields of total distillate fuels, gasoline, kerosene and diesel. From the analysis of variance (ANOVA), the most influential factor on each experimental design response was identified. The predicted conversion and yields of total distillate fuels, gasoline, kerosene and diesel were found to agree satisfactory with the experimental values.

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