Preparation of Ionic Liquid-modified SBA-15 Doped with Molybdovanadophosphoric Acid for Oxidative Desulfurization

A series of catalysts, ionic liquid-modified SBA-15 (denoted ILSBA) doped with H5PMo10V2O40 (HPMoV2) have been synthesized and characterized by XRD, FT-IR, H-1 NMR, TG-DTA, and TEM. The catalyst was used for the removal of dibenzothiophene (DBT) in model oil combined with hydrogen peroxide (the oxidant) and acetonitrile (the phase-transfer agent). It was observed that the sulfur content of DBT can be reduced from 500 to 2 ppm by adjusting the amount of catalyst, the reaction temperatures and the reaction time. Besides, the catalyst activity for different sulfur compounds showed a huge difference which may be mainly affected by the electron densities of sulfur atom. Moreover, the catalyst can be recycled seven times without a significant loss in activity, which could be ascribed to the strong electrostatic interaction between ILSBA and HPMoV2. In addition, a postulated mechanism was proposed to reveal the oxidative desulfurization process.