(347e) [O]-Induced Reactive Adsorptive Desulfurization of Liquid Fuel over AgXo@SBA-15 Under Ambient Conditions

Development of clean energy production processes with low energy consumption is a central strategy for a sustainable and environmentally friendly planet. Here we report a novel [O]-induced reactive adsorptive desulfurization (RADS) approach for ultra-clean fuel production using multifunctional Ag_XO@SBA-15 adsorbent with and without the addition of air under ambient conditions. The adsorption capacity of Ag_XO@SBA-15 by RADS reached 4.4 times of that by conventional ADS at low feed sulfur concentration of 10 ppm-S; its adsorption selectivity was enhanced 2.4 orders of magnitude. Over 90% of sulfur was removed within 10 min (corresponds to the space volocity of 6 h^-1). The RADS mechanism was illustrated as a simultaneous oxidation (to sulfones) and selective adsorption of sulfones, where the nano-sized silver species detected at different valence states (AgO, Ag₂O and Ag) and the feed air played the versatile enabling roles as the oxidation catalyst and oxidant, respectively, and the surface silanol groups were suggested as the preferential adsoption sites.

Keywords: desulfurization, adsorption, fuel, silver, air