Synthesis and characterization of new nanosphere hybrid nanocomposite polyoxometalate@ceramic@polyaniline as a heterogeneous catalyst for oxidative desulfurization of real fuel

Abstract

In this manuscript, the catalytic oxidative desulfurization (CODS) was proceeded using PMoV@CuO@PAN hybrid nanocatalyst. The nanocatalyst was prepared by the composition of potassium salt of 11-molybdo-1-vanadophosphat (PMoV), copper oxide (CuO), and polyaniline (PAN). The samples were characterized through various methods like FT-IR, XRD, SEM, and EDX. Thiophene (Th), benzothiophene (BT), and dibenzothiophene (DBT) were selected as the target sulfur compounds for CODS of simulated fuel. The oxidation processes were conducted under different conditions to evaluate the effects of individual reaction variables, including reaction time, reaction temperature, and nanocatalyst dosage. Moreover, a kinetic study was carried out and the activation energies for CODS of Th, BT, and DBT were determined. The investigations on CODS of real gasoline revealed that the sulfur content was reduced from 0.4987 to 0.0246 wt% and the mercaptans concentration was lowered from 98 to 5 ppm. Based on experimental results, the PMoV@CuO@PAN nanocatalyst retained a high removal yield of DBT compound after five rounds of reaction cycles and can be used as a reusable hybrid heterogeneous nanocatalyst in CODS treatments.