Desulfurization of Spent Tire Pyrolysis Oil and Its Distillate via Combined Catalytic Oxidation using H₂O₂ with Formic Acid and Selective Adsorption over Al₂O₃

Abstract

This paper reports an experimental investigation into the desulphurisation of a spent tyre pyrolysis oil and its distillate using a combined catalytic oxidative and selective adsorption method. The oxidative desulphurisation (ODS) experiments were carried out in a batch reactor using H2O2formic acid as oxidant. The effect of reaction temperature, time, and oil to H2O2-formic acid ratio on the percentage of sulphur removal was studied. The oil samples after ODS were treated using Al2O3 as an adsorbent in a batch reactor at 25 °C and atmospheric pressure. The oil samples were analysed using ICP-OES for sulphur content, GC-MS and GC-SCD for chemical compositions and sulphur species. The ODS successfully converted the sulphur compounds to sulphoxides and sulphones but only exhibited moderate sulphur removal efficiency because sulphoxides and sulphones were dissolved in the oil and cannot be easily extracted by water. Al2O3 was effective in adsorbing sulphoxides and sulphones. A maximum of 81% and 84% sulphur removal were achieved for the raw pyrolysis oil and distillate, respectively, using combined ODS and Al2O3 adsorption.After three desulphurisation cycles, the sulphur adsorption capacity of Al2O3 decreased from 0.31 to 0.22 mg S g -1 Al2O3, still exhibiting high sulphur removal ability.

Sono-oxidative desulfurization of fuels using heterogeneous and homogeneous catalysts: A comprehensive review

“…Reactions, in which homogeneous catalysts are involved, can be divided into two classes; 1) Reactions in the absence of PTC 2) Reactions in the presence of PTC. Among the homogeneous solid catalysts, catalysts such as phosphotungstic acid [156] as polyoxometallate class, Fe(II)SO 4 [157] and CuSO 4 [158] were employed, while organic acids such as acetic acid [159] and formic acid [160] were utilized as homogeneous liquid catalysts.…”

Catalytic oxidative desulphurization of pyrolytic oils to fuels over different waste derived carbon-based catalysts

“…Plenty of different approached are described in literature based on transition metal-based catalysts (i.e. cobalt [19], tungsten [20] and manganese [21] or polyoxometalates [22]) using air [23,24] or peroxides as oxidant agents [25][26][27], in homogenous or biphasic systems [28][29][30][31].…”

Nanocatalysts for Oxidative Desulfurization of Liquid Fuel: Modern Solutions and the Perspectives of Application in Hybrid Chemical-Biocatalytic Processes

“…Distillation cannot ensure the desired selectivity and has high energy requirements. Adsorption can be realized using silica gels, aluminium oxide, or zeolites, which can be regenerated via washing with organic solvents or calcinating the sulfones from the surface of the sorbent [91]. The essential drawback of these techniques is the unavoidable loss of hydrocarbon backbone of the sulfur-containing compounds and other components extracted from the fuel.…”