Desulfurization Performance of Choline Chloride-Based Deep Eutectic Solvents in the Presence of Graphene Oxide

Chiau Yuan Lim,Khairulazhar Jumbri,Hayyiratul Fatimah Mohd Zaid,Mohd Faridzuan Majid,Fai Kait Chong,Sarrthesvaarni Rajasuriyan

doi:10.3390/environments7110097

Chiau Yuan Lim, Khairulazhar Jumbri + Show 4 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/environments7110097

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Journal: Environments	Publication Date: Nov 2, 2020
Citations: 12	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Universiti Teknologi Petronas

Abstract

Extractive catalytic oxidative desulfurization (ECODS) is the one of the recent methods used in fuel desulfurization which involved the use of catalyst in the oxidative desulfurization of diesel fuel. This study is aimed to test the effectiveness of synthesized choline chloride (ChCl) based deep eutectic solvent (DES) in fuel desulfurization via ECODS method, with the presence of graphene oxide (GO) as catalyst and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) as oxidant. In this study, 16 DESs based on choline chloride were synthesized using glycerol (GLY), ethylene glycol (EG), tetraethylene glycol (TEG) and polyethylene glycol (PEG). The characterization of the synthesized DES was carried out via Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis, density, and viscosity determination. According to the screening result, ChCl-PEG (1:4) was found to be the most effective DES for desulfurization using ECODS method, with a removal of up to 47.4% of sulfur containing compounds in model oil in just 10 min per cycle after the optimization of the reaction parameters, and up to 95% desulfurization efficiency could be achieved by six cycles of desulfurization. It is found that the addition of GO as catalyst does not increase the desulfurization performance drastically; hence, future studies for the desulfurization performance of DESs made up from ChCl and PEG and its derivatives can be done simply by using extraction desulfurization (EDS) method instead of ECODS method, for cost reduction purpose and easier regulation of DES waste into environment.

Highlights

Sulfur containing compounds (SCC) are usually present in diesel fuel, which is commonly used in heavy type of vehicle or machines as a source of energy
The combustion of diesel fuels leads to the formation of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and its derivatives which are released into the atmosphere
choline chloride (ChCl) acted as a hydrogen bond acceptor (HBA), while GLY, ethylene glycol (EG), tetraethylene glycol (TEG), and polyethylene glycol (PEG) served as hydrogen bond donor (HBD)

Summary

Introduction

Sulfur containing compounds (SCC) are usually present in diesel fuel, which is commonly used in heavy type of vehicle or machines as a source of energy. The combustion of diesel fuels leads to the formation of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and its derivatives which are released into the atmosphere. Previous research reports that the deposition of acidic sulfur (from acid rain) into the forest soil can cause the releasing of methane gas, which is one of the greenhouse gases into the atmosphere [2]. The remnant of sulfur in diesel fuel reduces the effectiveness of catalyst used in the emission control system which is crucial in oxidation of the carbon monoxide and hydrocarbon into relatively harmless carbon dioxide before emitting the gases into the surrounding atmosphere. In order to regulate the toxic gas emission from diesel fuel, the government proposed a more stringent environmental regulation to control the SCC concentration in diesel fuel to be less than 10 ppm [3,4]

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