A potential material for removal of nitrogen compounds in petroleum and petrochemical derivates

Abstract

Activated carbon from coconut shell (Elaeis guineensis), in both crude and chemically modified forms, was evaluated as an adsorbent for removing nitrogen compounds of samples from synthetic and real fuel. The preliminary adsorption tests showed that 97.95 of indoline was removed by sulfuric acid-treated activated carbon (SAAC). The optimum conditions toward adsorption of nitrogen-containing compounds in crude oil (54 °C, 150 rpm and 1.104 g of adsorbent) was evaluated according to the design of experiments (DOE) technique associated with Differential Evolution optimization algorithm and an effective removal of 30.37% of basic nitrogenous compounds present in crude oil was achieved. For comparative effect, the tests were carried out using the previously optimized condition with the vacuum residue, diesel S-500, and diesel S-10, obtaining the removal of 21.56%, 44.44%, and 62.09%, respectively. Complementing the quantitative analysis, the analysis of mass spectrometry confirmed that coconut shell is a potential material for selective adsorption of nitrogenous compounds.