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

Abstract

In the present paper, a gamma alumina (?-Al2O3) loaded zinc oxide (ZnO) nano-catalyst (ZnO/?-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 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/?-Al2O3) at 90?C and 80 min reaction time. A new mathematical modeling technique has been then performed for the ODS operation under mild experimental conditions in order to evaluate the most appropriate kinetic variables for the new synthesized nano-catalysts based on the obtained experimental data. Simulation results indicate a high 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/?-Al2O3).