Iron doped manganese oxide octahedral molecular sieve as potential catalyst for SOx removal at FCC

•Iron doped manganese oxide octahedral molecular sieves was tested as DeSOx catalyst.•The catalyst reacted with SOx to form metal sulfates, K2Mn2(SO4)3 and MnSO4.•The catalysts presented high capacity of sulfur absorption.•The reduction process was remarkably improved in the presence of iron.•Three DeSOx cycles were carried out without significant loss of activity.

The fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) process is the main source for sulfur emission in the refinery. DeSOx additive comprises two main steps, i.e. SO2 oxidation to SO3 and trap through sulfate formation, followed by reduction to H2S. This work describes the application of undoped and iron doped Manganese Oxide Octahedral Molecular Sieves, OMS-2 and Fe/OMS-2, as potential catalysts for DeSOx in FCC. Both materials presented similar SOx uptake, but Fe/OMS-2 was much more efficient in the reduction step, increasing one order of magnitude the rate of the reduced gases formation compared with pristine OMS-2. Moreover, three DeSOx cycles were run with no significant loss of activity.

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