Preparation and characterization of some functionalized acrylate based compounds for utilization in desulfurization of petroleum diesel fuel

Abstract

The current research work deals with the preparation of organic based composite structures as novel catalysts for the photocatalytic desulfurization of a petroleum diesel fuel. Several desulfurization techniques can be employed; however, photocatalytic desulfurization can be considered as the safest and cost-effective route to achieve such goal. The removal or extreme reduction of sulfur compounds in diesel fuels is a crucial stage, during their production, in terms of protecting the environment from harmful emissions. Additionally, the use of a cost-effective process, for such a purpose, is strongly favorable from economic prospectives. Thus, this research work aims to produce low-sulfur diesel fuel through a photocatalytic route under the effect of visible light. Hybrid structures made by combining organic and inorganic compounds are presented as novel photocatalysts during this study. Such combination was meant to enhance the overall photocatalytic performances of these structures, as well as, to increase their capability toward the adsorption of sulfur compounds. It had been noticed that the usage of aliphatic chains, bearing functional groups, and increment of electron donor atoms, in the organic part of photocatalyst, could increase the desulfurization percentage. Moreover, the introduction of this structure in its polymerized state had significantly enhanced the desulfurization process. As soon as the proposed structures both organic (acrylate-based compounds) and metal oxide (MO) were prepared, they were sent to the process of photocatalytic desulfurization of a diesel fuel feedstock (collected from Cairo Oil Refinery Co. having a sulfur content of 12,500 ppm). The designated application had started by investigating the efficiency of MO nanoparticles, as a photocatalyst, toward disposal of sulfur compounds. This stage was carried out under visible light irradiation and at fixed operating conditions (90 min and catalysts dose of 10 g/L). Subsequently, hybrid photocatalysts made by a combination of MO nanoparticles with each of the three prepared acrylamide derivatives were tested against the sulfur removal from diesel fuel at the same operational conditions, as previously stated. The preparation of these three photocatalysts was performed by mechanical mixing of MO and organic compounds (1:1 by weight). After exploring the photocatalyst which could achieve the highest desulfurization percentage, studying the effect of turning its acrylamide derivative into its corresponding polymer, on the process of sulfur removal, had taken place. The effect of metal oxide/polymer ratio, the concentration of photocatalyst, and time of exposure to visible light radiation on the desulfurization process had been studied.