PROCESS MODELING AND KINETIC ESTIMATION FOR DESULFURIZATION OF DIESEL FUEL USING NANO - ZnO/Al<subscript>2</subscript>O<subscript>3</subscript>.

In the present paper, a gamma alumina (γ-Al2O3) loaded zinc oxide (ZnO) nano-catalyst (ZnO/γ-Al2O3) has been synthesized and used to accelerate the removal of sulfur compounds from light gas oil by oxidative desulfurization (ODS) process. The synthesized nano-catalysts have been characterized by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and Brunauer-Emmett- Teller (BET). The ODS process has been conducted in a batch reactor at various reaction temperatures and batch times varying between 30 to 90 °C and 20 to 80 min, respectively. DBT removal was highest (93.781%) while using synthesized nano-catalyst (9% ZnO/γ-Al2O3) at 90°C and 80 min reaction time. Based on the obtained experimental data, a new mathematical modeling technique was performed for the ODS operation under mild experimental conditions to evaluate the most appropriate kinetic variables for the newly synthesized nano-catalysts. Simulation results indicate a good match with experimental observations with less than 5% absolute average error for all runs. The optimization procedure of the process condition displays that > 98% DBT could be eliminated within 200 min, at 87 °C, in the existence of synthesized nano-catalyst (9% ZnO/γ- Al2O3). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

U ovom radu, sintetisan je nano-katalizator sa cink-oksidom (ZnO) nanetim na γ -alumini (γ -Al2O3 ), tj. ZnO/g-Al2O3, namenjen ubrzavanje uklanjanja jedinjenja sumpora iz lakog gasnog ulja oksidativnom desulfurizacijom. Sintetizovani nanokatalizatori su okarakterisani mikroskopijom atomskih sila i Brunauer-Emet-Telerove metode. Oksidativna desulfurizacija je sproveden u šaržnom reaktoru na različitim temperaturama i vremenima reakcije (30—90 °C i 20—80 min). Uklanjanje dibenzotiofena je bilo najveć e (93,8%) pri korišć enju sintetizovanog nanokatalizatora (9% ZnO/ γ -Al2O3 ) na 90 °C za 80 min. Na osnovu dobijenih eksperimentalnih podataka, izvedena je nova tehnika matematičkog modelovanja oksidativne desulfurizacije u blagim eksperimentalnim uslovima kako bi se procenile najprikladnije kinetičke promenljive za novosintetizovane nanokatalizatore. Rezultati simulacije ukazuju na dobro poklapanje sa eksperimentalnim zapažanjima sa manje od 5% apsolutne prosečne greške za sve serije. Procedura optimizacije uslova procesa sa nanokatalizatora (9% ZnO/ γ -Al2O3 ) pokazuje da se više od 98% dibenzotiofena može eliminisati u roku od 200 min, na 87 °C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]