Hasanudin Hasanudin, Wiwik Siscia Asany, Akhmad Syoufian, Karna Wijaya, Ahmad Mudzakir, Ahmad Suseno, Nino Rinaldi, Erwan Hermawan, Wan Ryan Asri, Mohammad N. Siddiqui, Tawfik A. Saleh
The development of efficient catalysts for hydrocracking of crude palm oil (CPO) remains important for improving the production of renewable hydrocarbon fuels. This study investigates the hydrocracking of CPO over amorphous potassium hydrogen phthalate (KHP)‒templated Si/Al catalysts modified with NiO and NiS, and proposes structure‒activity relationships supported by detailed physicochemical characterization and response surface methodology (RSM). Nickel impregnation and sulfidation form well dispersed NiO and NiS domains without disrupting the mesoporous Si/Al framework. Acidity analysis reveals that all catalysts lacked medium-strength acid sites, and sulfidation generates a surface dominated by weak acid sites while retaining a small fraction of strong acid sites. Catalytic screening indicates that KHP‒Si/Al‒NiS exhibits the highest conversion (78.58 %) and the most favorable biofuel distribution, producing 44.14 % C5‒C9, 30.44 % C10‒C14, and the lowest C22+ fraction (9.26 %), demonstrating the potential of the KHP‒Si/Al‒NiS catalyst as an alternative sulfided catalyst system for hydrocracking by combining the catalytic functionality of NiS with the structural stability of the amorphous mesoporous Si/Al support. RSM‒CCD was then applied to optimize reaction conditions over KHP‒Si/Al‒NiS, revealing temperature and feed flow rate as the dominant variables controlling both conversion and biogasoline fraction. The optimized reaction conditions (677 °C, 11.12 g/min feed flow rate, and 4 g of catalyst) afford 84.30 % conversion and 44.55 % biogasoline fraction. The observed acidity distribution suggests that the predominance of weak acid sites after sulfidation, together with the remaining strong acid sites, contributes to the formation of C5‒C14 hydrocarbons while limiting excessive over-cracking, demonstrating the potential of the catalyst system for tunable biofuel production through process optimization of the hydrocracking operating conditions. © 2026
Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Science, Universitas Sriwijaya, Indralaya, Palembang, 30662, Indonesia; Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Science, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, 55281, Indonesia; Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Science, Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, Bandung, 40154, Indonesia; Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Science, Universitas Diponegoro, Tembalang, Semarang, 50275, Indonesia; Research Center for Chemistry, National Research and Innovation Agency, Building 452 Kawasan PUSPIPTEK, Serpong, Banten, Tangerang Selatan, 15314, Indonesia; Research Center for Process Technology, National Research and Innovation Agency, PUSPIPTEK Gd. 720, Serpong, Banten, Tangerang Selatan, 15314, Indonesia; Chemistry Department, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran, 31261, Saudi Arabia
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