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Fast and reversible adsorption for dibenzothiophene in fuel oils with metallic nano-copper supported on mesoporous silica

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Abstract

Dibenzothiophene (DBT) in fuel oils causes the release of toxic sulfur oxide gases, and it is necessary to remove DBT in fuels. Herein, metallic copper was loaded on SBA-15 mesoporous silica through simple reduction reactions for the preparation of DBT adsorbents. On an adsorbent with a copper loading of 0.3 wt%, adsorption equilibrium was achieved within 5 min, and a DBT removal rate of 90.4% was achieved. The adsorption isotherm agreed with a linear Freundlich model and adsorption capacity was 12.1 mg sulfur/g. Nano-sized copper particles were observed by TEM, indicating the size effect of copper particles in DBT adsorption. A broad band, corresponding to copper-sulfur coordination bonds, was observed at 300–600 cm−1 in the Raman spectrum of DBT-doped adsorbent. Meanwhile, the band at 1233 cm−1 corresponding to C = C (–S) bonds in DBT was shifted to 1229 cm−1 in DBT adsorbed. XPS and Cu LMM XPS spectra proved that Cu(0) was oxidized by DBT sulfur during adsorption. Furthermore, Auger spectra verified that the adsorption of DBT on Cu(0) involved the formation of Cu(I) and Cu(II) species through coordination bonds. The adsorption capacity could be completely recovered via elution. This work sheds light on the removal of DBT in fuel oils with cost-effective efficient adsorbents.

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Funding

The authors are grateful for the financial support from the Guangxi Natural Science Foundation (Grant No. 2018GXNSFBA281147), the Middle-aged and Young Teachers’ Basic Ability Promotion Project of Guangxi (Grant No. 2019KY0357), and the Guangxi Natural Science Foundation (Grant No. AD19110052).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological and Chemical Engineering, Guangxi University of Science and Technology, City, Liuzhou, 545006, China

    Xinsheng Li, Shuo Ai, Yongchun Huang, Chengdu Huang, Wanguo Yu & Zhijuan Mao

  2. CAS Key Laboratory of Science and Technology on Applied Catalysis, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian City, 116023, China

    Xinsheng Li

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  1. Xinsheng Li
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  2. Shuo Ai
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  3. Yongchun Huang
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Contributions

Conceptualization: Shuo Ai

Data curation: Xinsheng Li

Formal analysis: Shuo Ai

Funding acquisition: Shuo Ai

Investigation: Xinsheng Li

Methodology: Xinsheng Li

Project administration: Yongchun Huang

Resources: Wanguo Yu

Software: Zhijuan Mao

Supervision: Shuo Ai

Validation: Chengdu Huang

Visualization: Shuo Ai

Writing—original draft: Shuo Ai

Writing—review and editing: Shuo Ai

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Correspondence to Shuo Ai.

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Li, X., Ai, S., Huang, Y. et al. Fast and reversible adsorption for dibenzothiophene in fuel oils with metallic nano-copper supported on mesoporous silica. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 2741–2752 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-10715-1

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