Production and characterization of diesel-like fuel by catalytic upgrading of scrap tire pyrolysis oil using basic catalyst derived from blood cockle shell (Anadara Granosa)

Abstract This paper investigates the catalytic upgrading process in overcoming the scrap tire pyrolysis oil (STPO) complexities using a calcium-based catalyst derived from blood cockle shell (Anadara granosa). The calcined blood cockle (CBC) shells were synthesized by varying the temperature of calcination to 800, 900 and 1000 °C. In order to investigate the physico-chemical properties, the STPO was subjected to test method according to ASTM D975. The final distilled oil obtained from catalytic upgrading underwent gas chromatography with mass spectroscopy (GC–MS) analysis, in order to identify its chemical composition. According to the results, CaO material gives the lowest sulphur content (0.08%), compared to Ca(OH)2 and Na2CO3 catalysts. Among the CBC materials, the highest distilled oil yield is the CBC-1000 catalyst, with a value of 37.7%. The GC–MS analysis of distilled oil obtained from catalytic upgrading using the CBC-1000 catalyst reveals that, predominantly, the hydrocarbon chain is between C8 to C10, which is similar to conventional diesel fuel. The results also infer that there is improvement in STPO in terms of sulphur content (%), yield, and chemical compositions via the catalytic upgrading process. In conclusion, the CBC catalyst derived from blood cockle shell revealed that it has potential in upgrading the STPO to diesel-like fuel.