Desulfurization of liquid fuels by adsorption on carbon-based sorbents and ultrasound-assisted sorbent regeneration.

Several carbon-based adsorbents, CuCl/AC, PdCl2/AC, and Pd/AC (where AC denotes activated carbon), were studied for desulfurization of a model jet fuel by selective adsorption of thiophenic molecules. Comparisons with gamma-Al2O3 support and desulfurization of a commercial jet fuel were also studied. The results showed that the selective sulfur adsorption capacity of PdCl2 was higher than that of CuCl and Pd(0), in agreement with molecular orbital results. It was also found that the activated carbon is the best support for pi-complexation sorbents to remove sulfur-containing compounds, i.e., benzothiophene and methylbenzothiophene. Among all the adsorbents studied, PdCl2/AC had the highest capacity for desulfurization. A significant synergistic effect was observed between the carbon substrate and the supported pi-complexation sorbent, and this effect was explained by a geometric effect. The saturated sorbent was regenerated by desorption assisted by ultrasound with a solvent of 30 wt % benzene and 70 wt % n-octane. The results showed that the amount of sulfur desorbed was higher with ultrasound, 65 wt % desorption vs 45 wt % without ultrasound in a static system at 50 degrees C.