Adsorptive desulphurization study of liquid fuels using Tin (Sn) impregnated activated charcoal

Abstract

Keeping in view the growing concern regarding desulphurization of petroleum products, the present study was under taken to investigate the efficiency of tin impregnated activated charcoal (Sn-AC) as a potential adsorbent for the desulphurization of model and real commercial straight run kerosene and diesel oil samples. The adsorbent Sn-AC was prepared by wet impregnation process in the laboratory and characterized by SEM, EDX and surface area analysis. Initial experiments were carried out using model oil, which was prepared by dissolving dibenzothiophene (DBT) in cyclohexane, the optimum conditions for desulfurization were found to be, 60°C temperature, 1h contact time and adsorbent dosage of 0.8g, under which about 99.4% of DBT removal was attained. Under optimized conditions the desulfurization of real oil i.e., kerosene and diesel oil was also investigated. Kinetic studies revealed that DBT adsorption followed pseudo second order kinetics and the data best fits in the Langmuir adsorption isotherm as compared to Freundlich adsorption isotherm model. The adsorbent could be easily regenerated simply by washing with toluene for a multiple cycles and reused without losing its efficiency.

On the Removal and Desorption of Sulfur Compounds from Model Fuels with Modified Clays

“…As observed in Table 1, all the adsorbents presented n larger than 1. Other adsorption studies of DBT and BT with activated carbon [5][6][7] show lower adsorption capacities than the ones reported in this work, with q values around 25 mg/g at low pollutant concentration [5] and 12.16 mg of sulfur per gram of pristine activated carbon [6].…”

“…The adsorption time was determined by preliminary experiments. Thereafter, the suspensions were centrifuged and the remaining concentrations of DBT and BT were determined through ultraviolet (UV) spectrophotometry using a microplate reader (Biotek, Synergy4, Winooski, VT, USA) at a wavelength of 330 nm [5]. The BT and DBT solutions showed no degradation for at least 2 days, according to preliminary results.…”

“…Synthetic gasoline and diesel were prepared based on their major components, according to the literature [5][6][7]. Hexadecane was chosen as synthetic gasoline and a 1:1 volume mixture of decane and hexadecane was used for diesel.…”

“…Activated carbon is well known for its adsorption properties, including phenolic compounds, dyes, metals and organic molecules in general. Therefore, its application to the elimination of sulfured compounds has been subject of research in the past [5][6][7]. Unfortunately, the next question this raises is: is activated carbon not prepared by burning organic materials?…”

Desulfurization of Model Oil through Adsorption over Activated Charcoal and Bentonite Clay Composites

“…To overcome this limitation, synergistic effects of incorporating other adsorbent materials with AC have been studied. For example, Ganiyu et al [32] employed aluminum-impregnated activated carbon, Shah et al [33] utilized tin-impregnated AC, Thaligari et al [34] employed zincimpregnated AC, and Olajire et al [35] utilized Ag nanoparticles-modified AC as adsorbent for removal of sulfur compounds from transportation fuels.…”