Evaluation of sorbents for thiophene removal from liquid hydrocarbons

Thiophene is a commonly occurring sulfur compound in liquid hydrocarbon streams produced in a petroleum refinery. The concentration of thiophene often needs to be reduced to very low levels for most applications. Selective adsorption of thiophene is investigated in n-heptane, 1-octene and xylenes and their mixtures. A variety of adsorbents were tested for their selectivity and adsorption capacity. Improvements in adsorption capacity were attempted based on analysis of the adsorption mechanism. Adsorption capacity of NaX zeolite was found to be highest among tested adsorbents. However, competitive adsorption from xylenes reduced adsorption capacity for thiophene from mixtures containing large concentration of xylenes. Langmuir model is applied to describe observed competitive adsorption. Selective adsorption of organic sulfur compound could be used as a polishing step in a purification scheme which allows sulfur removal from hydrocarbons at low temperature and without the use of expensive hydrogen.