Upgrading of tall oil to fuels and chemicals over HZSM‐5 catalyst using various diluents

The upgrading of crude tall oil (CTO) to fuels and chemicals was studied at atmospheric pressure and in the temperature range 370 to 440°C in a fixed bed microreactor containing HZSM‐5. The oil was co‐fed with diluents such as tetralin, methanol and steam. High oil conversions of the order of 80–90 wt. % were obtained using tetralin and methanol as diluents but with steam the conversion only ranged between 36 to 70 wt. %. The maximum concentration of gasoline range aromatic hydrocarbons in the liquid product was 52 and 57 wt. % with tetralin and steam but only 39 wt. % with methanol. The amount of gas product in most of the runs was 1–4 wt.%. A reaction scheme is postulated based on the results.