Sonocatalytic oxidative desulfurization of diesel oil using a novel BiVO4/FeMn LDH nanocomposite

A novel BiVO4/FeMn layered double hydroxide (LDH) nanocomposite was fabricated and applied for green and efficient ultrasound-assisted oxidative desulfurization (UAODS) of real fuel (hydrotreated oil). The physicochemical properties of the prepared BiVO4/FeMn LDH nanocomposites are elucidated using techniques such as XRD, FT-IR, BET, SEM, XPS, Raman, and TGA. The desulfurization results revealed that both BiVO4 and FeMn LDH were crucial in the UAODS process in the presence of H2O2 as a green oxidant and acetonitrile as an extracting solvent. The desulfurization activity was optimized by varying the process conditions (time, catalyst weight, type of oxidant, O/S molar ratio, ratio of solvent to oil, and type of sonicator). The prepared nanocomposite exhibited remarkable desulfurization performance, reaching up to 99.8% under the optimized reaction conditions. Moreover, the catalyst exhibited high stability and could be reused four times without a notable decline in the performance. Significantly, this research reveals the robustness of the newly synthesized nanocomposite for efficient UAODS in a short time and low catalyst dosage. The proposed desulfurization mechanism was investigated.

Automated summary

A novel BiVO4/FeMn layered double hydroxide (LDH) nanocomposite was fabricated and applied for green and efficient ultrasound-assisted oxidative desulfurization (UAODS) of real fuel. The physicochemical properties of the nanocomposite were characterized using various techniques. The results showed that the nanocomposite exhibited remarkable desulfurization performance under optimized reaction conditions, and the catalyst demonstrated high stability and reusability.