Adsorption of Dibenzothiophene in Gasoline by Si-MCM-41/Sodium Alginate Porous Hybrid Membrane

Abstract

In this paper, the novel Si-MCM-41/SA porous hybrid membrane was prepared by in-corporating inorganic mesoporous material Si-MCM-41 into sodium alginate (SA) matrix, then cross-linking with 5% glutaraldehyde and 1.0 mol/L hydrochloric acid. Using scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and atomic force microscope (AFM), the prepared Si-MCM-41 sample and Si-MCM-41/SA porous hybrid membrane were characterized. The adsorption kinetics of the dibenzothiophene (DBT) by the Si-MCM-41/SA porous hybrid membrane was explored. Meanwhile, the effects of Si-MCM-41 content, porogen addition amount, DBT concentration, solution temperature, toluene concentration and other factors on the adsorption property of the Si-MCM-41/SA porous hybrid membrane were studied. In addition, the selectivity and reusability of the Si-MCM-41/SA porous hybrid membrane were also explored. The results show that the Si-MCM-41/SA porous hybrid membrane has excellent adsorption capacity for DBT, reaching 350.74 mg/g, which is a great improvement over the pure SA membrane. Moreover, among three sulfides of thiophene, 3-methylthiophene and DBT, the Si-MCM-41/SA porous hybrid membrane has the highest adsorption selectivity for DBT. The Si-MCM-41/SA porous hybrid membrane can be reused at least 5 times. Therefore, it can be known that the Si-MCM-41/SA porous hybrid membrane is an ideal adsorption material with practical application prospects.