ISSN print edition: 0366-6352 ISSN electronic edition: 1336-9075 Registr. No.: MK SR 9/7 Published monthly

Adsorption desulphurisation of dimethyl sulphide using nickel-based Y zeolites pretreated by hydrogen reduction

Xiao-Ling Yu, Yan-Nan Lu, De-Zhi Yi, Huan Huang, Li Shi, and Xuan Meng

State Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, China

E-mail: mengxuan@ecust.edu.cn

Abstract: A series of nickel-modified Y zeolites were prepared for the adsorption of dimethyl sulphide (DMS) in liquid hydrocarbon streams. The adsorption desulphurisation performance was investigated under ambient conditions of nickel-based adsorbents developed by the liquid-phase ion exchange (LPIE) method and the incipient wetness impregnation (IWI) method with and without the ultrasonic aid technique. It was found that the nickel-modified Y zeolite prepared by the IWI method with the ultrasonic aid technique with hydrogen reduction demonstrated a high sulphur capacity of 69.9 mg of S per g of sorbent at a break-through sulphur level of 10 μg g^-1. The sorbents thus prepared were characterised by elemental analysis, XRD, TPR, H₂ chemisorption, pyridine-FTIR, XPS, and SEM. The results showed that a high dispersion of metallic nickel atoms loaded on Y zeolite had an important role in determining the DMS removal capacity and the adsorption behaviour exhibited a pronounced dependence on the metal introduction method.

Keywords: adsorption desulphurisation – nickel – dimethyl sulphide – ultrasonic aid

Full paper is available at www.springerlink.com.

DOI: 10.1515/chempap-2015-0213

Chemical Papers 70 (3) 294–304 (2016)