Adsorptive desulfurization of kerosene and diesel oil by Zn impregnated montmorollonite clay

• Main Authors: Waqas Ahmad, Imtiaz Ahmad, Muhammad Ishaq, Khudija Ihsan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2017-05-01
• Series: Arabian Journal of Chemistry
• Subjects: Adsorptive desulfurization; Montmorollonite; π-Complexation; Impregnation; Clay adsorbents
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S187853521300453X

In the present research work, desulfurization of kerosene and diesel oil has been carried out by selective adsorption through metals impregnated montmorollonite clay (MMT). Different metals were impregnated on MMT by wet impregnation method which included Fe, Cr, Ni, Co, Mn, Pb, Zn and Ag. The adsorption study was carried out in batch operation initially for 1 h time and at room temperature (25 °C). The results show that high desulfurization was brought about by Zn-MMT. In the case of kerosene highest desulfurization of 76% and in the case of diesel maximum desulfurization of 77% was achieved with adsorption through Zn-MMT. Conditions were also optimized for the desulfurization process. Highest yield of desulfurization was obtained at 1-h stirring period, at room temperature (25 °C) and using oil to adsorbent ratio of 20:1.5. Under optimized conditions the adsorbent was found to adsorb about 81% of DBT from the model oil containing 1000 ppm DBT dissolved in cyclohexane. EDX, Surface characterization and SEM analysis of the adsorbents used in the study were conducted to evaluate their mineralogical nature and textural behavior. Results show that the surface area, pore size and pore volume of the MMT has been found to be increased many fold with Zn impregnation. Also the surface morphology of the MMT has also been improved with Zn impregnation.