Investigating catalyst killers

For the production of hydrogenated vegetable oil (HVO), feedstock impurities are known as catalyst killers, even in small quantities.
The usage of waste-based material, for example used cooking oil or animal fat, as a feedstock for HVO production is becoming increasingly important. However, compared to vegetable oil, it is more difficult to remove the contamination and to analyse them at low levels.
BDI has improved its existing biodiesel feedstock pre-treatment technology for the treatment of HVO feedstock and has developed a process to fulfil the high demands for the product.
For the quality control of the pre-treatment unit, the concentration of metals and phosphorus must be observed. Two analytical methods are used to determine HVO, namely Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectrometry (ICP), with different methods for the sample preparation, and X-Ray Fluorescence Spectroscopy (XRF).
BDI has compared these methods for the analytics of waste-based feedstock before and after pre-treatment. XRF yields the great advantage of easy handling so that operators can effortlessly perform the measurement.
Unfortunately, relevant metals...