2-DIMENSIONAL ZEOLITES FOR ADSORPTIVE DESULFURIZATION

Abstract

The removal of sulfur-containing compounds from transportation fuels is of growing urgency due to the increasingly government stringent regulations. Adsorptive desulfurization at ambient conditions is a promising strategy for sulfur-containing compound removal compared to traditional hydrodesulfurization (HDS) that requires high temperature and pressure. In this thesis, we studied zeolite adsorbents for adsorptive desulfurization of model fuels. Three zeolite frameworks (MFI, MWW and FAU) in both 2-dimensional (2D) and 3D structures were synthesized and ion-exchanged to both proton-form and Ag+-form. The adsorption of thiophene and benzothiophene, respectively, in n-octane was done using both H+- and Ag+-form zeolites in both 2D and 3D structures. The results show that 2D zeolites have high adsorption capacity than 3D analogues in removal of benzothiophene. The Ag+-form zeolites increase the adsorption capacity compared with that of H+-form. In terms of zeolite framework effects, MWW zeolites possesses the highest adsorption capacity.