Deep oxidative desulfurization of diesel fuels using homogeneous and SBA-15-supported peroxophosphotungstate catalysts

摘要

A combination of catalytic oxidation and extraction was used for the desulfurization of a model diesel containing benzothiophene, dibenzothiophene and 4,6-dimethyldibenzothiophene, or a real diesel sample with a sulfur content of 2300 ppm. The catalysts used were the soluble peroxo compound (nBu(4)N)(3){PO4[WO(O-2)(2)](4)} (PW4) and a supported material denoted as PW4@TMA-SBA-15 that was prepared by immobilization of PW4 in an ordered mesoporous silica (SBA-15) derivatized with propyltrimethylammonium groups (TMA). The supported catalyst was characterized by FT-IR, FT-Raman, P-31 and C-13 MAS NMR spectroscopies, powder X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. Under optimized conditions (H2O2/S molar ratio = 7, 70 degrees C, acetonitrile as extraction solvent), both catalysts led to complete desulfurization of the model diesel within a reaction time of 2 h. The desulfurization systems could be recycled 10 times with only a slight decrease in performance being observed between the 9th and 10th oxidative desulfurization cycles. Application of the PW4 system to the real diesel led to an outstanding desulfurization efficiency of 89% after a reaction time of 2 h.