Abstract
A new biomass-based carbonaceous adsorbent has been developed from Pongamia pinnata and its effect upon nickel modification- and adsorption-coupled ultrasonication was investigated. Adsorption experiment of the model oil constituting 50 ppm dibenzothiophene in cyclohexane showed the maximum capacity as 8.11, 13.36, and 17.15 mg·g−1 for the commercial carbon DARCO, virgin bio-adsorbent PP, and nickel-modified adsorbent Ni@PP, respectively, with the time required for attaining equilibrium being the fastest in Ni@PP (120 min). The significant effect of ultrasonication was in attaining faster kinetics where ~ 96–98% removal was achieved in only 30 min. Also, the developed adsorbents had a very good specific surface area of 915 and 677 m2·g−1, respectively, for PP and Ni@PP. Investigation of the effect of higher initial sulfur concentration (200 ppm) indicated the significance of Ni modification, where a very high capacity of 66.18 mg·g−1 for Ni@PP was attained against 30.90 mg·g−1 for PP and 13.18 mg·g−1 for DARCO. Ni@ PP was also effective for the simultaneous removal of more refractory sulfur fractions from multicomponent model fuel systems and exhibited good regeneration ability till the fourth cycles or more. Cost estimation showed that the developed adsorbents are relatively ten times cheaper than commercial carbon, while the fixed-bed study indicated a breakthrough time of 250 min and 270 min for PP and Ni@PP, respectively.Graphic abstract
Highlights
Desulfurization of liquid fuels is an important step in the petroleum refining process, as sulfur in liquid fuels contributes to the emission of S OX and other particulate matters as air pollutants
In the case of Pongamia pinnata (PP) and Ni@PP, the band at 2954 cm−1 may be ascribed to aliphatic C–H stretching vibrations of CH3, CH2, and CH in carbonaceous material, whereas the the bands near 1750 cm−1and 2200–2400 cm−1 can be ascribed to the C=O axial deformation and at 1600 cm−1 can refer to C=C stretching vibration [28, 29]
Adsorption equilibrium data showed that Langmuir isotherm is the best fit model for adsorption of model oil, while the pseudo-second-order model could satisfactorily explain the kinetics of adsorption
Summary
Desulfurization of liquid fuels is an important step in the petroleum refining process, as sulfur in liquid fuels contributes to the emission of S OX and other particulate matters as air pollutants. The present study involves the development of a new bio-adsorbent and modification with Ni as active species to investigate its desulfurization performance using a model oil consisting of DBT in cyclohexane and the effect of ultrasonication.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary 
Published Version (
Free)
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call