Deep Desulfurization of Model Gasoline by Adsorption on Mesoporous CeMCM-41

Abstract

Cerium atoms have been introduced into the framework of MCM-41 by a hydrothermal synthesis method with cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTMABr) as template, sodium silicate as silica source, and cerium chloride as cerium source. Desulfurization of various model fuels containing about 500 μg/g sulfur were studied over the synthesized CeMCM-41 with a liquid hourly space velocity of 7.5 hr−1 at ambient conditions. The sulfur adsorption capacity was 10.0, 11.8, 14.0, and 15.4 mg(S)/g adsorbent for thiophene, dibenzothiophene (DBT), 4,6-dimethyldibenzothiophene (4,6-DMDBT), and tetrahydrothiophene (THT), respectively. The charges on S atom in thiophene, DBT, 4,6-DMDBT, and THT, calculated by using density functional theory (DFT), are −0.159, −0.211, −0.214, and −0.298, respectively, implying that the S-M bond between the adsorption sites and thiophene is much weaker than that between the adsorption sites and DBT, 4,6-DMDBT, or THT.