Removal of Thiophene from Model Fuel Using Titanium Catalyst

Abstract

Organosulfur compounds like thiophene (Th) and its alkyl derivatives are the major unwanted species present in crude oil fractions as they lead to the formation of sulfur oxides after combustion of the fuel and these oxides of sulfur cause severe environmental damage. Oxidative desulfurization (ODS) process is considered as one of the best alternative deep desulfurization technologies compared to hydrodesulfurization. In the ODS process, the sulfur compounds are oxidized to corresponding sulfones and subsequent removal of these sulfones from fuel is performed by simple separation processes such as extraction, adsorption etc. Titanium-based zeolites show good catalytic activity for the ODS with tertiary butyl hydroperoxide as the oxidant. In the current investigation, oxidation of thiophene (TH) in iso-octane with t-butyl hydroperoxide is studied in a batch reactor in a non-severe condition using titanium silicate-1 (TS-1) as the catalyst. The effect of different process parameters on the reaction rate were studied in detail. Apparent rate constant was calculated at five different temperatures. The activation energy and frequency factor for the reaction were estimated to be 26.67 kJ/mol and 0.077 respectively.