Abstract:

Biomass, especially palms oil empty fruit bunches (EFB) which are abundant in Indonesia can be processed into bio-oil, through pyrolysis process. Bio-oil contains large molecules, thus resulting high viscosity. The use of cracking catalyst such as zeolite, would be beneficial for breaking down the large molecules. Silica-alumina catalyst is one of the mesoporous size catalysts that is expected to improve the quality of products from the catalytic cracking of bio-oil. The objective of this research is to study the effect of the catalyst weight (0-40 gram)  on the yield and composition of the product. Bio-oil derived from EFB was upgraded through double series reactor under atmospheric pressure. This configuration will minimize coke formation. The results showed that the weight of catalyst affects the quality and quantity of oil product. With the increased weight of  catalyst from 0 to 40 gram, the yield of oil decreased from 42.8 to 22.72%. However, the concentration of gasoline and kerosene increased from 6.61 to 17.02% and 17.53 to 24.53%, respectively. With the raised weight of  catalyst, heating value of oil rose from 32 to 36.7 MJ/kg.  <

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