Designing Catalytic Desulfurization Processes to Prepare Clean Fuels, 2nd Edition

A special issue of Catalysts (ISSN 2073-4344). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Catalysis".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 October 2024 | Viewed by 2892

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
REQUIMTE/LAQV and Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Faculty of Sciences, University of Porto, 4169-007 Porto, Portugal
Interests: heterogeneous catalysts; polyoxometalates; catalytic metal–organic frameworks; sustainable catalytic processes; oxidation catalysis; hydrogen peroxide; desulfurization; glycerol oxidation; deep-eutectic solvents
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Guest Editor
REQUIMTE, Chemistry Department, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal
Interests: atmospheric pollution; urban aerosol; traffic emissions; source emissions; organic tracers; carbonac, MOFs; POMs; catalysis; oxidative desulfurization system;diesel; fuel; jets; GC-FID; GC-MS
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This issue is a continuation of the previous successful Special Issue “Designing Catalytic Desulfurization Processes to Prepare Clean Fuels”.

Sulfur compounds in fuels are the main reason for acid rain and environmental pollution. The combustion of fossil fuels generates emissions of sulfur such as sulfur dioxide (SO2), which is corrosive and toxic, and fine particulate matter of metal sulfates. In response to this, the specifications of transportation fuels set by governments have been increasing with respect to sulfur content over the years. The strict regulations imposed have required the development of novel technologies with higher cost efficiency and sustainability, adapted to a variety of different fuels, presenting distinct properties and sulfur contents. The actual desulfurization method in world refineries, i.e., hydrodesulfurization, has been adjusted to meet the tight specifications of the current limit imposed by government directives; however, the extreme severe conditions required (high temperature, pressure, and consumption of large amounts of hydrogen) are affecting the economic viability of the process. On the other hand, the hydrodesulfurization process is unviable for treating certain types of fuels, such as heavy fuel oil.

Catalytic processes can be used to improve or even replace the actual hydrodesulfurization. Therefore, this Special Issue aims to outline promising catalytic desulfurization technologies to treat fuels, designing novel cost-effective and sustainable processes. These can include biocatalysis, extractive, oxidation, adsorptive processes, etc., with viability for industrial application. Submissions are welcome in the form of original research manuscripts or critical review papers that represent the scientific field.

Dr. Salete Balula
Dr. Fátima Mirante
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • clean fuels
  • sulfur compounds
  • catalysts desulfurization processes
  • materials for sulfur removal
  • sustainable catalytic processes

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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31 pages, 9696 KiB  
Article
Production of Green Fuel Using a New Synthetic Magnetite Mesoporous Nano-Silica Composite Catalyst for Oxidative Desulfurization: Experiments and Process Modeling
by Aysar T. Jarullah, Ahmed K. Hussein, Ban A. Al-Tabbakh, Shymaa A. Hameed, Iqbal M. Mujtaba, Liqaa I. Saeed and Jasim I. Humadi
Catalysts 2024, 14(8), 529; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal14080529 - 15 Aug 2024
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Abstract
Producing an eco-friendly fuel with the least amount of sulfur compounds has been an ongoing issue for petroleum refineries. In this study, bentonite (which is a cheap material and is locally available in abundance) is employed to prepare a nano-silica catalyst with a [...] Read more.
Producing an eco-friendly fuel with the least amount of sulfur compounds has been an ongoing issue for petroleum refineries. In this study, bentonite (which is a cheap material and is locally available in abundance) is employed to prepare a nano-silica catalyst with a high surface area to be used for the oxidative desulfurization of kerosene. Two composite catalysts of Fe/silica were supported on CAT-1 (0% HY-zeolite and 100% nano-silica) and CAT-2 (20% HY-zeolite and 80% nano-silica). The activity of the catalysts was evaluated in a batch ODS (oxidative desulfurization) process at temperatures of 30, 60, 90, and 120 °C, a pressure of 1 atm, and a reaction time of 30, 60, 90, and 120 min using 120 L/h of air as the oxidant. The results revealed that the highest total sulfur removal efficiency was 50% and 87.88% for 100% nano-silica (CAT-1) and 80% nano-silica (CAT-2), respectively. The experimental data were then used to construct and validate an accurate mathematical model of the process. The operational parameters for eliminating more than 99% of sulfur and producing eco-friendly fuel were then achieved by using the model. The testing methods for these characterizing materials included X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermal gravimetric examination (TGA), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), and surface area (BET). The outcomes indicated that the addition of HY-zeolite increased the activity of the catalyst (CAT-2 > CAT-1). Full article
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Review

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24 pages, 2405 KiB  
Review
Advanced Technologies Conciliating Desulfurization and Denitrogenation to Prepare Clean Fuels
by Rui G. Faria, Dinis Silva, Fátima Mirante, Sandra Gago, Luís Cunha-Silva and Salete S. Balula
Catalysts 2024, 14(2), 137; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal14020137 - 9 Feb 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2094
Abstract
The removal of sulfur- and nitrogen-containing compounds present in fuels is and will be crucial to accomplish actual strict regulations to avoid environmental and humanity health adversities. The conventional hydrodesulfurization and hydrodenitrogenation processes conducted by refineries are limited due to severe operating conditions, [...] Read more.
The removal of sulfur- and nitrogen-containing compounds present in fuels is and will be crucial to accomplish actual strict regulations to avoid environmental and humanity health adversities. The conventional hydrodesulfurization and hydrodenitrogenation processes conducted by refineries are limited due to severe operating conditions, and even more importantly, they are inefficient for simultaneously removing nitrogen- and sulfur-containing compounds in fuels. On the other hand, non-hydrogen technologies are beneficial in terms of mild operating conditions, and during the last two decades, some successful works have shown that these can be highly effective at efficiently removing both sulfur- and nitrogen-containing compounds from liquid fuels. For more than four decades, extensive research (thousands of publications since the 1980s) has been dedicated to developing remote desulfurization technologies without taking into consideration the presence of a complex fuel matrix, or even taking into account the presence of other harmful pollutant elements, such as nitrogen. Even more recently, several effective non-hydrogen denitrogenation processes have been reported without considering the presence of sulfur compounds. This review paper is a reflection on the limited work that has been successfully performed to simultaneously remove sulfur- and nitrogen-containing compounds from fuels. An evaluation of different methodologies (adsorption, extraction, oxidative (photo)catalysis, ultrasound-assisted oxidation) is presented here. Furthermore, this review intends to define new future strategies that will allow the design of more suitable and economical technologies, effectively conciliating desulfurization and denitrogenation processes to produce more sustainable fuels. Full article
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