Synthesis and application of Ti-incorporated mesoporous silicate in deep oxidesulfurization of DBT from liquid fuel

In-situ synthesis of Ti-incorporated MCM-41 nano catalyst was carried out by the hydrothermal method to prepare a mesoporous catalyst for the oxidative desulfurization reaction (ODS). Oxidative reaction of dibenzothiophene (DBT) as a heavy sulfur compound was evaluated in a solution of n-decane as a model of liquid fuel. The synthesized catalysts were characterized by XRD, FESEM, EDX, TEM, FTIR and BET analysis and the most crystalized and purified catalyst on the base of XRD analysis was obtained at the synthesis temperature of 383 K, TIPT/TEOS=0.01, NaOH/TEOS=0.3 and TEOS/CTAB=0.2. The ODS reaction was investigated in a batch reactor in the presence of H2O2 as oxidant and the effect of operating conditions such as reaction temperature and molar ratio of oxidant/DBT were studied by the experimental design and the optimal operating conditions were predicted on the base of maximum DBT conversion. Removal of the produced sulfones was performed by acetonitrile as a polar solvent with the equal volume ratio of acetonitrile to model fuel. By simultaneous reaction and extraction, the DBT removal was achieved up to 99.5% during 20 min reaction. The recyclability of the prepared catalyst was studied by treatment with methanol and drying at 373 K for 4 hours. It was revealed that after two stages of reaction-regeneration, the conversion of DBT was reduced from 99.5 to 88%.