Sulfur, Nitrogen Removal from model Fuel Using Oxidative Method

Abstract

Thiophene and its aromatic derivatives are the major sulphur compounds usually present in petroleum fractions as a pollutant. Oxidative desulfurization using Titanium Silicate (TS-1) as catalyst provides a promising deep desulfurization process which is an alternative to traditional HDS. The oxidative desulfurization of thiophene in a synthetic mixture of thiophene and octane was investigated with the commercial catalyst (TS-1) loaded with different metals like iron, molybdenum, cerium by incipient wetness impregnation method. The oxidizing agent used for the reaction was 30 wt% hydrogen peroxide. Catalysts were characterized by X-ray Diffraction, SEM/EDS and BET surface Area. Among all the catalysts examined the iron loaded on TS-1 catalyst gave the highest conversion .The different parameters that affect ODS reaction like speed of agitation, catalyst particle size, thiophene to hydrogen peroxide ratio, catalyst quantity and reaction temperature were studied. All the process parameters were optimized. The study of nitrogen compounds was carried out at different temperature and also the effect on sulfur (Thiophene) conversion in presence of nitrogen compound (Quinoline) was studied. On the basis of this the kinetics of the reaction was carried out and activation energies were calculated.