Thermocraking of Sunflower Oil over Acid Vermiculite

Abstract

The catalytic cracking of sunflower oil over vermiculite clay was studied in a thermal analysis system, the process being accompanied by thermogravimetry. The vermiculite was chemically modified by acid leaching and characterized by techniques of XRD, FTIR, SEM and TG. The catalytic test was performed in a thermal analysis system with heating up to 900 °C, with proportion oil/clay = 100. The results of thermogravimetry showed that in the presence of the catalyst, the thermograms present a single mass loss. The test was also performed with the molecular sieve Al-MCM-41 with proportion Si/Al = 25 and 75, with similar results to those presented by vermiculite.