Abstract
With increasingly stringent environmental regulations, desulfurization for gasoline oil production has become an important issue. Nowadays, desulfurization technologies have become an integral part of environmental catalysis studies. It is also important for processing of fuel for fuel-cells, which has a strict requirement for sulfur content for internal combustion engines. In this study, we focused on the preparation and characterization of magnesium hydroxide/aluminum supported NiO, ZnO, ZrO2, NiO-ZnO, NiO-ZrO2, adsorbents for the adsorptive desulfurization of liquid fuels. These hydrotalcite adsorbents were prepared by co-precipitation method and used for adsorption of thiophene (in n-pentane, as model fuel) and dibenzothiophene at ambient temperature and pressure. The physicochemical behaviors of the fresh adsorbents such as structure, composition, and bonding modes were determined using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), energy dispersive X-Ray analysis (EDAX), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The sulfur concentration in the mixture (thiophene and n-pentane) was measured by UV-Vis spectrophotometry. The percentages of thiophene removal and the adsorption capacity (mg of sulfur per g of adsorbent) of the five adsorbents were compared. The adsorption performance confirmed that NiO-ZrO2 and NiO-ZnO adsorbents are more efficient in removing thiophene/dibenzothiophene than that of three other adsorbents. The qualitative studies using XPS confirmed the efficient adsorption nature of modified hydrotalcite adsorbents on dibenzothiophene.
Highlights
The combustion of fuels containing sulfur produces sulfur dioxide, which is liable to a series of air pollution events
Five modified hydrotalcite adsorbents were prepared by the combination of Mg, Al, Ni, Zn, and ZrO2
A model fuel consisting of 50 ml of n-pentane (C5 H12 ) and thiophene (100 ppm) was prepared, and adsorption experiments were performed under ambient conditions
Summary
The combustion of fuels containing sulfur produces sulfur dioxide, which is liable to a series of air pollution events. The existing desulfurization technologies failed to reduce the sulfur level of gasoline or diesel fuel to less than 10 ppm [1,3]. The addition of nickel on ZnO and ZrO2 is an innovative approach that takes advantage of the selectivity of Ni towards S-species and the high adsorptive capacity of ZnO and ZrO2 support It changes the nature of the active metal sites and increases the sulfur removing capacity of the adsorbent. The current study compares different types of adsorbents in order to pave the way to remove sulfur to ultra-low levels by the selective adsorption of sulfur from liquid fuels
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