Catalytic oxidative desulfurization of benzothiophene with hydrogen peroxide catalyzed by Fenton-like catalysts

The catalytic oxidative desulfurization of benzothiophene in n-octane has been investigated with hydrogen peroxide over catalysts of activated carbon (AC) supported iron oxides under mild conditions. The prepared composites, which combine the adsorption features of AC with the magnetic and excellent catalytic properties of gamma-Fe2O3 and/or Fe3O4 nanoparticles, were fabricated by a modified deposition-precipitation method using HNO3 as the carbon modifying agent and characterized by N-2 adsorption, XRD, SEM/EDS, TPR and XPS. The main results suggest that the hydrogen treatment results in an increase of sulfur removal, probably as a function of more reduced iron species formed with the hydrogen treatment. Using acetonitrile as an extraction solvent, the sulfur content in model diesel fuel reduced from 700 to 38.6 ppmw, and 94.5 % of total sulfur was removed under the operating conditions of room temperature (30 A degrees C) and atmospheric pressure.