Desulfurization of liquid hydrocarbon fuels via Cu2O catalyzed photo-oxidation coupled with liquid-liquid extraction

By combining the photochemical reaction and liquid-liquid extraction (PODS), we studied desulfurization of model fuel and FCC gasoline. The effects of air flow, illumination time, extractants, volume ratios of extractant/fuel, and catalyst amounts on the desulfurization process of PODS were analyzed in detail. Under the conditions with the air as oxidant (150 ml·min− 1), the mixture of DMF-water as extractant (the volume ratio of extractant/oil of 0.5) and photo-irradiation time of 2 h, the sulfur removal rate reached only 42.63% and 39.54% for the model and FCC gasoline, respectively. Under the same conditions, the sulfur removal rate increased significantly up to 79% for gasoline in the presence of Cu2O catalyst (2 g·L− 1). The results suggest that the PODS combined with a Cu2O catalyst seems to be a promising alternative for sulfur removal of gasoline.