Mesoporous zirconium–silica nanocomposite modified with heteropoly tungstophosphoric acid catalyst for ultra-deep oxidative desulfurization

An adsorbent catalyst was proposed to reduce the leaching of active species of the catalyst and enhance the kinetics of the oxidative desulfurization (ODS) reaction of dibenzothiophene (DBT) from model diesel fuel. By loading phosphotungstic acid (HPW) species onto a zirconium-modified hexagonal mesoporous silica (Zr-HMS), a novel catalyst was synthesized and utilized for the ODS process. An ultrafast ODS kinetics was specifically identified using 20%HPW/Zr-HMS as catalyst. Within 30 min, more than 95% of the 350 ppm DBT content of the model fuel was oxidized by H₂O₂. The synthesized catalyst retained its sulfur removal ability even after five subsequent ODS reactions and the leaching of HPW species was found to be suppressed successfully. Overall, this new reusable catalyst provided an alternative for highly efficient ultra-deep desulfurization process.