Process modeling and kinetic estimation for desulfurization of diesel fuel using nano - ZnO/Al2O3

Abstract

In the present paper, a gamma alumina (γ-Al2O3) loaded zinc oxide (ZnO) nano-catalyst (ZnO/γ-Al2O3) has been synthesized and used to accelerate the removal of sulfur compounds from light gas oil by oxidative desulfurization (ODS) process. The synthesized nano-catalysts have been characterized by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET). The ODS process has been conducted in a batch reactor at various reaction temperatures and batch times varying between 30 to 90 °C and 20 to 80 min, respectively. DBT removal was highest (93.781%) while using synthesized nano-catalyst (9% ZnO/γ-Al2O3) at 90°C and 80 min reaction time. Based on the obtained experimental data, a new mathematical modeling technique was performed for the ODS operation under mild experimental conditions to evaluate the most appropriate kinetic variables for the newly synthesized nano-catalysts. Simulation results indicate a good match with experimental observations with less than 5% absolute average error for all runs. The optimization procedure of the process condition displays that > 98% DBT could be eliminated within 200 min, at 87 °C, in the existence of synthesized nano-catalyst (9% ZnO/γ-Al2O3).

Keywords

• gamma alumina
• model
• nano-catalyst
• optimization
• sulfur
• zinc oxide