Preparation of WO3-SBA-15 mesoporous molecular sieve and its performance as an oxidative desulfurization catalyst

The tungsten-containing mesoporous molecular sieve WO3-SBA-15 (SBA: Santa Barbara Amorphous type materials) was prepared under conventional hydrothermal conditions in strong acidic solution using H2WO4 as tungsten source, tetraethyl orthosilicate as silicon source, and a mixture of P123 tri-block copolymer (EO20PO70EO20) and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide as structure-directing agent. The catalyst was tested for oxidative desulfurization and characterized by X-ray diffraction and nitrogen adsorption-desorption. The catalyst had the highest desulfurization performance (i.e., 91.3%) after oxidation under the following reaction conditions: 20 mL gasoline with 540 ppm sulfur, 6 mol H2O2/sulfur, reaction temperature 333 K, reaction time 80 min, and three extraction cycles.