Copper‑exchanged Y zeolites for gasoline deep‑desulfurization

Abstract

Adsorptive desulfurization is one of the most efficient methods to remove recalcitrant sulfur compounds from transportation fuels. Two π-complexation-based sorbents were studied for desulfurization of synthetic gasoline. The sorbents were obtained by ion exchanging Y zeolites with copper cations using different techniques, which includes liquid phase ion exchange (CuY1) and vapor phase ion exchange (CuY2). Preliminary kinetic and equilibrium experiments for sulfur adsorption in batch system showed that CuY1 has the greatest desulfurization capacity and selectivity. The best adsorbent, CuY1 pellet, had a dynamic adsorption and equilibrium capacity of 2.97 and 4.14 mg S/g for fixed bed column assays, respectively. Experimental data obtained to batch reactor and packed bed column have been interpreted by means of a pore diffusion model in which the mass balance to the pellets are emphasized. The model proposed was able to fit well to the experimental data. After the first thermal regeneration, the copper ion-exchanged zeolite presented a maximum recovery of 91.5%. The copper-exchanged zeolite (in pellet form) has shown good uptake rate and regenerability for desulfurization of synthetic gasoline.