Abstract
Stringent regulations and environmental concerns make the production of clean fuels with low sulfur content compulsory for the petroleum refining industry. Because of ease of operation without high energy consumption, the adsorption of sulfur compounds seems the most promising process. Central composite design was used to optimize parameters influencing the synthesis of dispersed carbon nanoparticles (CNPs), a new class of sorbents, in order to obtain an excellent adsorbent for desulfurization of liquid fuel. The optimized dispersed CNPs, which are immiscible in liquid fuel, can effectively adsorb different benzothiophenic compounds. Equilibrium adsorption was achieved within 2 min for benzothiophene, dibenzothiophene, and 4,6-dimethyldibenzothiophene with removal efficiency values of 75 %, 83 %, and 52 %, respectively. The rate of desulfurization by the prepared CNPs in the present work is seven times higher than the previously reported CNPs. Optimized CNPs were characterized by different techniques. Finally, the effect of the mass of CNPs on the removal efficiency was studied as well.
Highlights
Sulfur compounds which are naturally present in unrefined oils and transportation fuels severely deactivate most catalysts, such as those used in automotive emissions control, petrochemicals production, and fuel cells (Shi et al 2011)
Central composite design was used to optimize parameters influencing the synthesis of dispersed carbon nanoparticles (CNPs), a new class of sorbents, in order to obtain an excellent adsorbent for desulfurization of liquid fuel
Dispersed carbon nanoparticles (CNPs) in an aqueous phase was reported (Fallah and Azizian 2012a; Fallah et al 2012) as a new class of sorbents in removing of BT, DBT, and DMDBT from liquid fuel, and it was shown that the adsorption of different organosulfur compounds on this adsorbent was rapid and had a good selectivity
Summary
Sulfur compounds which are naturally present in unrefined oils and transportation fuels severely deactivate most catalysts, such as those used in automotive emissions control, petrochemicals production, and fuel cells (Shi et al 2011). To produce low sulfur-containing fuels, various processes including hydrodesulfurization (HDS) (Song and Ma 2003; Farag et al 1998; Lara et al 2005), oxidation (Jiang et al 2003; Yang et al 2007), extraction (Bosmann et al 2001; Zhang et al 2004), and adsorption (Blanco-Brieva et al 2011; Hernandez et al 2010; Fallah and Azizian 2012a, b; Fallah et al 2012a, b, 2014; Song et al 2013) have been proposed. Dispersed carbon nanoparticles (CNPs) in an aqueous phase was reported (Fallah and Azizian 2012a; Fallah et al 2012) as a new class of sorbents in removing of BT, DBT, and DMDBT from liquid fuel, and it was shown that the adsorption of different organosulfur compounds on this adsorbent was rapid and had a good selectivity. The synthesis of CNPs is affected by different parameters (volume of water (W), time of irradiation (t), polyethylene glycol (PEG) volume, and
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