Design and synthesis of W-containing mesoporous material with excellent catalytic activity for the oxidation of 4,6-DMDBT in fuels

A series of tungsten-containing mesoporous catalysts have been designed and synthesized with polyoxometalate ionic liquid template. The catalysts were characterized by thermogravimetric (TG), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), N2 adsorption–desorption, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and transmission electron micrographs (TEM) analysis. The experimental results demonstrated that a channel-like mesopores with high dispersion of tungsten species were obtained. The catalysts exhibited high catalytic efficiency in removal of the most refractory 4,6-DMDBT in fuels. The removal of 4,6-DMDBT could reached 100% with 15 mg catalyst in 70 min while the n(O/S) is 3 at 60 °C. After recycling for 6 times, the efficiency of the desulfurization system still remained 100%. In addition, the removal of BT and DBT could also achieve 100% under the same conditions, which means the catalyst had a promising prospect for industrial application.