Oxidative desulfurization of dibenzothiophene over a novel high-performance TiO2-SiO2 catalyst

Stringent environmental legislation on sulfur level in transportation fuels have forced refiners to use new methods for desulfurization. Oxidative desulfurization (ODS) is a novel and good complementary process for hydrodesulfurization (HDS) in which catalyst play key role in the efficiency of the process. This work reports the effect of titania active phase on the oxidative desulfurization of dibenzothiophene (DBT) using tert-buthyl hydroperoxide (TBHP). DBT was removed from n-hexadecane at mild operating conditions of atmospheric pressure and a temperature of 353 K. The ODS experiments were performed using 3 g model fuel that consisted of 500 ppmw DBT and 0.03 g catalyst with 0.03 g TBHP as oxidant. The conversion of DBT was easily enhanced by increasing reaction time and finally catalyst TS/50 could achieve 100% conversion after 20 min.