Photocatalytic Oxidation Desulfurization of Diesel Oil Using Ti-containing Zeolite

Photocatalytic oxidation of dibenzothiophene with hydrogen peroxide using Ti-containing zeolite (TS-1) as photocatalyst at ultraviolet lamp irradiation has been studied. The effect of the amount of photocatalyst and hydrogen peroxide concentration were investigated in detail. Optimal photocatalyst amount and hydrogen peroxide concentration were obtained at amounts of near 0.1 g/10 mL and 3 mL/10 mL, respectively. The oxidation proceeds in the oil phase and most of the oxidation products transfer to water phase, resulting in the successive removal of the dibenzothiophene from the n-octane phase without additional extraction by solvent. Kinetics parameters of the photocatalytic oxidation of DBT were measured and calculated. The result shows the kinetics of photocatalytic oxidation of DBT is first-order. The activity of photocatalyst was not obviously decreased after reuse ×5. Using this photocatalytic oxidation system can effectively reduce the sulfur content in diesel oil. The resulting oil contained less than 100 μg/g sulfur, and this corresponds to 90% removal.