Aromatic sulfur compounds present in liquid fuels in
the form of
thiophenes are converted into sulfur oxides (SO
x
) during the combustion of fuels and cause major environmental
problems such as acid rain, global warming, and air pollution. The
adsorptive desulfurization of four aromatic sulfur compoundsthiophene,
benzothiophene, dibenzothiophene, and 4,6-dimethyl dibenzothiophenefrom n-octane was investigated in the current study over five
typical metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), namely MIL-53(Cr,
Al, Fe), Cu-BDC, and HKUST-1, which were successfully synthesized
and characterized using XRD, FT-IR, SEM, and N2 adsorption–desorption.
The results indicate that for ADS of thiophene and BT, the adsorption
capacity of MOFs increases in the order MIL – 53(Fe) < Cu
– BDC < HKUST – 1 < MIL – 53(Al) < MIL
– 53(Cr), for DBT, it increases in the order Cu – BDC
< MIL – 53(Fe) < HKUST – 1 < MIL – 53(Al)
< MIL – 53(Cr), and for DMDBT, it increases in the order
HKUST – 1 < Cu – BDC < MIL – 53(Fe) <
MIL – 53(Al) < MIL – 53(Cr). It is evident that among
the synthesized MOFs, MIL-53(Cr) demonstrated the highest adsorptive
desulfurization capacity upon removing sulfur compounds from model
oil due to its high surface area and suitable pore diameter, with
sulfur removal performance of 29, 39, 61, and 88% for the adsorption
of thiophene, benzothiophene, dibenzothiophene, and 4,6-dimethyldibenzothiophene,
respectively. Adsorption data were checked through kinetic models
and isotherms, and it has been shown that the adsorption kinetics
follow the pseudo-second-order kinetic model, and the adsorption isotherm
is better described by the Langmuir equation.