High desulfurization characteristic of lanthanum loaded mesoporous MCM-41 sorbents for diesel fuel

Mesoporous La/MCM-41 and La/AlMCM-41(SiO2/Al2O3 = 30, 50) sorbents were prepared by an incipient wetness impregnation or ion-exchange (IE) process, and desulfurization performances were investigated for commercial diesel containing total sulfur of 560 ppmw at ambient temperature and pressure. The high surface area, a big pore volume and diameter of sorbents played important role for sulfur removal efficiency. The sorbents were characterized by means of BET, XRD, HRTEM, ICP-MS, NH3-TPD and Py FT-IR techniques. The results of N2-adsoption isotherms, XRD, HRTEM and FT-IR for the sorbents revealed that no structure collapse occurred during the wet impregnation. The interaction between sulfur in thiophene and HO-La(OSiAl) was crucial for the removal of sulfur compounds.

► High surface area of sorbents played important role in sulfur removal.
► Interaction between S–La species was crucial for removal of sulfur.
► BET, XRD, HRTEM and FT-IR characterization indicates that structure of MCM-41 remains intact.