(191f) Catalytic Adsorptive Desulfurization of Model Fuel over Ti-Si Adsorbents at Low Ti Loading Under Ambient Conditions

Ultra-clean fuel production has attracted widespread attention globally due to intensified environmental and health concerns. Previously, we proposed catalytic adsorptive desulfurization (CADS) using bifunctional catalyst-adsorbent under ambient conditions for selective desulfurization of low-sulfur diesel for ultra-clean fuel production (Fuel, 2016, 174, 118-125; AIChE J., 2018, doi:10.1002/aic.16055). In this work, we explored CADS using a newly developed Ti-Si-rd adsorbents featured with fairly low Ti loading (0.01~2.5 wt.%). A series of Ti-Si-rd was synthesized by a facile impregnation method. Effect of Ti loading at low concentration range on CADS capacity in batch was elaboratively studied. The optimized Ti-Si-rd at low Ti loading showed higher CADS capacity compared to that upon Ti-Si adsorbents reported in the previous work, which reached up to 150 mg/g from a model fuel containing high DBT concentration up to 1500 ppm, at the sorbent-to-fuel ratio of 100. Additionally, Ti-Si-rd also maintained >95% of CADS capacity in five consecutive regeneration cycles, suggesting excellent regenerability and stability of the Ti-Si-rd adsorbent as a plus plausible feature. Furthermore, to elucidate the correlation between CADS capacity and physical-chemical properties of Ti-Si-rd, the adsorbents were further characterized by N2 adsorption, X-ray diffraction, FTIR spectroscopy, and inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometer. The chemical environments of Ti in various Ti-Si adsorbents was further studied to clarify the effect of Ti coordination and chemical environment on CADS.