(343b) Desulfurization of JP-8 Fuel Using Ag-Loaded Silica Supports Under Ambient Conditions

October 28 – November 2, 2012
Pittsburgh Convention Center

Pittsburgh, PA

Submit to Symposium: Fuel Processing for Hydrogen Production, as a Talk.

Title: Desulfurization of JP-8 fuel using Ag-loaded silica supports under ambient conditions

Dat T. Tran,¹ Jessica St. John,² Deryn Chu¹ and Scott R. J. Oliver²

¹U.S. Army Research Laboratory, RDRL-SED-C, 2800 Powder Mill Road, Adelphi, Maryland 20783; dat.t.tran4.civ@mail.mil

²Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Santa Cruz, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95064; soliver@ucsc.edu

The U.S. Army demand for mobile, portable and stationary fuel cells based on hydrogen has increased rapidly.  To meet these power generation demands, the U.S. Army is interested in using JP-8 fuel as a hydrogen carrier.  The reformation of JP-8 to hydrogen offers an energy dense feedstock via on-demand fuel processing.  Unfortunately, organic sulfur compounds intrinsic to JP-8 pose a significant challenge because they can poison the reformer and fuel cell catalysts.

In this work, mesoporous silica and aluminosilicate adsorbents loaded with silver (and other metal) ions were synthesized, characterized and examined for the adsorptive desulfurization of JP-8 fuel.  The adsorbents were evaluated with JP-8 fuel containing ~700 ppmw sulfur under ambient conditions.  This talk will describe the preparation and characterization of these adsorbents and their sulfur adsorption characteristics for the goal of fuel desulfurization.