Recent Progress of Metal-Organic Frameworks for Liquid Fuels Desulfurization

With the development of society, environmental protection is receiving increasing attention, and higher requirements have been put forward for the cleanliness of traditional energy sources. Fuels from distilled natural crude oils contain a variety of sulfur-containing compounds, which lead to serious environmental pollution. New technologies for deep desulfurization of fuels are urgently needed to meet the various stringent sulfur standards for liquid fuels (<15 ppm). In recent years, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have shown great potential in a variety of applications, especially in fuel desulfurization, such as hydrodesulfurization, oxidative desulfurization, and adsorptive desulfurization, due to their high porosity, high specific surface area and availability. In addition, the combination of MOFs with membranes or ionic liquids also has high desulfurization efficiency. In this review, the applications of MOFs and their composites in fuel desulfurization over the past decade are summarized. The factors affecting the desulfurization performance are pointed, and the desulfurization mechanism is tentatively clarified. Moreover, future recommendations have been discussed briefly.