The
ever increasing demand for sustainable energy and chemicals
in association with the declining reserve for fossil fuel, are stimulating
the search for alternative feedstocks and processes. In this line,
the catalytic upgrading of nonedible oils into high-yield commodity
chemicals, including saturates and aromatics, has been studied. Yeast
single cell oil (SCO) was converted into benzene, toluene, and xylenes
(BTX) over a Ga−γ-alumina catalyst, at 450 °C. The
yield of aromatics was found to improve with the incorporation of
Ga. The physiochemical properties of the catalyst were characterized
using different analytical techniques and reaction parameters were
optimized using design-of-experiment (DOE). It was observed that the
gallium promotes the dehydrogenation activity and results in an overall
increase in aromatic yield. Maximum 89.4% conversion of SCO, with
aromatic selectivity up to 77.7%, was achieved.