Selective adsorption of thiophenic compounds from fuel over TiO2/SiO2 under UV-irradiation

This study investigates selective adsorption of thiophenic compounds from fuel over TiO2/SiO2 under UV-irradiation. The TiO2/SiO2 adsorbents were prepared and then characterized by N-2 adsorption, X-ray diffraction and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Adsorption isotherms, selectivity and kinetics of TiO2/SiO2 were measured in a UV built-in batch reactor. It was concluded that (a) with the employment of UV-irradiation, high organosulfur uptake of 5.12 mg/g was achieved on the optimized 0.3TiO(2)/0.7SiO(2) adsorbent at low sulfur concentration of 15 ppmw-S, and its adsorption selectivity over naphthalene was up to 325.5; (b) highly dispersed TiO2 served as the photocatalytic sites for DBT oxidation, while SiO2 acted as the selective adsorption sites for the corresponding oxidized DBT using TiO2 as a promoter, the two types of active sites worked cooperatively to achieve the high adsorption selectivity of TiO2/SiO2; (c) The kinetic rate-determining step for the UV photocatalysis-assisted adsorptive desulfurization (PADS) over TiO2/SiO2 was DBT oxidation; (d) consecutive adsorption-regeneration cycles suggested that the 0.3TiO(2)/0.7SiO(2) adsorbent can be regenerated by acetonitrile washing followed with oxidative air treatment. This work demonstrated an effective PADS approach to greatly enhance adsorption capacity and selectivity of thiophenic compounds at low concentrations for deep desulfurization under ambient conditions. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.