A PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATION OF OXIDATIVE DESULFURIZATION OF COMMERCIAL DIESEL

Abstract

The oxidative desulphurization is considerate one of the most promising methods to remove sulphurous compounds of fossil fuels, because it’s a process that can be realized under smooth conditions, ambient temperature and atmospheric pressure. The desulfurization process makes rusty compounds, where the sulfur goes from a divalent state to a hexavalent state, from this your extraction becomes possible using a solvent, for example the acetonitrile. The most used oxidant in this process is the hydrogen peroxide, having advantages, as your capacity of oxidize some compounds directly, thermal stability and the absence of problems with the mass transfer. The solid catalysts for the oxidative desulfurization are made with a base of transition metals. The molybdenum it’s a transition metal and your oxides can be used in great technologic application. The vanadium has a lot of applications as oxidative catalyst in chemical industries and also the environmental industries too. The reactions were carried out with 6 samples at a temperature of 60ºC and 24°C ambient temperature, with and without catalysts, in order to analyze the efficiency of the process at different temperatures. The analyzes of the physico-chemical properties are of great importance to analyze possible changes because of the reactions. The proposed method to quantify the sulfur content was made, but because of the unsatisfying precipitation of the sulfurous compounds your efficiency could not be calculated. The oxidative desulfurization was found to be a method that does not affect the physico-chemical properties of the diesel engine, both the density and the viscosity remained in the pattern in all samples except when it was used in the MoO3 as catalyst, which caused an increase in its acidity level.