Combined Adsorptive and Ultrasonic Treatment to Remove Metals from Fuel Oil

Abstract

The study investigated removal of metals (Ni, V, Cr, Fe, Ti, and Mo) from fuel oil using ultrasonic treatment (UST) and adsorbents such as carbon black, carbon nanotubes, aluminum oxyhydroxide (AlO(OH)), iron oxyhydroxide (FeO(OH)), and titanium dioxide (TiO2). Combined adsorption/UST provided a somewhat higher demetallization degree than the use of adsorbents alone. Compounds of iron, chromium, and molybdenum, which presumably complex with petroleum feedstock components due to intermolecular bonding, were removed almost completely (95%). The removal of titanium compounds reached 60%. For these metals, no correlation between the removal degree and the physicochemical properties of the adsorbents was found. For vanadium and nickel, the highest removal degrees (37 and 23%, respectively) were achieved when an iron oxyhydroxide adsorbent was used in combination with UST. This can likely be associated with the superiority of the FeO(OH) adsorbent in negative surface charge and specific surface area compared to the other samples.