A kinetic study of HKUST-1 for desulfurization applications

Abstract

In this study, HKUST-1 prepared under solvothermal conditions and tested in desulphurization of model gasoline. The prepared HKUST-1 samples were characterized using surface area and pore volume analysis (BET), powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Fourier transforms infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The prepared HKUST-1 was used for desulphurization of model gasoline (thiophene with iso-octane), and the influence of the thiophene concentration, HKUST-1 dose, temperature, and contact time. The experimental results revealed that the sulfur content in model fuel was reduced from 1500-148.2 ppm (90.12% removal efficiency) for four hours contact time at 30 ?C. In addition, an isotherm adsorption and kinetics study were performed for a batch process to understand the system equilibrium (i. e., the best fitting Langmuir isotherm or Freundlich isotherm). The kinetics study proved that the contained sulfur removal was best fitted by pseudo-second-order kinetics. Regeneration results show that the HKUST-1 has a reversible nature as an adsorbent. Therefore, HKUST-1 might be used as a promising adsorbent for removing thiophene compounds from gasoline.