Few-layered hexagonal boron nitride nanosheets stabilized Pt NPs for oxidation promoted adsorptive desulfurization of fuel oil

Abstract

A few-layered hexagonal boron nitride nanosheets stabilized platinum nanoparticles (Pt/h-BNNS) is engineered for oxidation-promoted adsorptive desulfurization (OPADS) of fuel oil. It was found that the few-layered structure and the defective sites of h-BNNS not only are beneficial to the stabilization of Pt NPs but also favor the adsorption of aromatic sulfides. By employing Pt/h-BNNS with a Pt loading amount of 1.19 wt% as the active adsorbent and air as an oxidant, a 98.0% sulfur removal over dibenzothiophene (DBT) is achieved along with a total conversion of the DBT to the corresponding sulfones (DBTO2). Detailed experiments show that the excellent desulfurization activity originates from the few-layered structure of h-BNNS and the high catalytic activity of Pt NPs. In addition, the OPADS system with Pt/h-BNNS as the active adsorbent shows remarkable stability in desulfurization performance with the existence of different interferents such as olefin, and aromatic hydrocarbons. Besides, the Pt/h-BNNS can be recycled 12 times without a significant decrease in desulfurization performance. Also, a process flow diagram is proposed for deep desulfurization of fuel oil and recovery of high value-added products, which would promote the industrial application of such OPADS strategy.

Keywords

• Desulfurization
• Adsorption
• Catalytic oxidation
• Active adsorbent
• Dibenzothiophene