Affiliation:
1. Department of Chemical Engineering Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee Roorkee India
2. Centre for Sustainable Energy, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee Roorkee India
3. Centre for Nanotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee Roorkee India
4. Advanced Crude Oil Research Centre, CSIR‐Indian Institute of Petroleum Dehradun India
5. Department of Chemistry Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee Roorkee India
Abstract
AbstractIn this study, sulphuric acid‐treated activated alumina (AA) was used for sulphur and nitrogen removal from model fuel in a batch adsorption study. Dibenzothiophene (DBT), a sulphur compound, and quinoline, a nitrogen compound dissolved in isooctane, were taken as a model liquid fuel. Detailed characterization of the adsorbent, such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM), thermogravimetric analysis‐differential thermal analysis (TGA‐DTA), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET), and X‐ray diffraction (XRD), was performed to understand the DBT and quinoline adsorption mechanism onto AA adsorbent. Sulphur and nitrogen removal efficiencies were found to be 64% and 91%, respectively. Mono‐component adsorption isotherm was studied by using different models such as Langmuir, Freundlich, and Redlich‐Peterson (R‐P) isotherms. The R‐P isotherm model well‐predicted the individual equilibrium data for both nitrogen and sulphur from the liquid fuel. Binary‐component adsorption studies were performed by mixing both DBT and quinoline in isooctane. Binary‐equilibrium data were modelled by multi‐component models such as modified Langmuir isotherm, non‐modified Langmuir, extended Langmuir, extended Freundlich isotherm, Sheindorf‐Rebuhn‐Sheintuch (SRS), non‐modified R‐P model, and modified R‐P model. The extended Freundlich (E‐F) adsorption isotherm model was found to best fit the binary equilibrium system.