Reactive adsorption desulfurization of FCC gasoline over self-sulfidation adsorbent

NiSO4/ZnO-Al2O3-SiO2 adsorbent, as a novel reactive adsorption desulfurization (RADS)adsorbent, has self-sulfidation ability and high desulfurization performance when treating model fuel. However, the RADS performance of the adsorbent under FCC gasoline feedstock is not well understood. Here, we compare the performance of the adsorbent under FCC gasoline with model fuel to test the effect of the hydrocarbon composition of the feedstock. The complex composition of FCC gasoline makes it sensitive to the nickel loading amount of the adsorbent. Under the influence of specific surface area and pore structure, the adsorbent loaded with 3 wt% nickel shows better desulfurization activity when treating FCC gasoline. As hydrocarbons in FCC gasoline compete with sulfur compounds for active Ni sites, the reaction conditions have been tested and optimized to achieve deep desulfurization while maintaining low olefin loss to ensure the octane number of the product. By experimental tests and characterization, it has been proved that NiSx and NiO acted as active Ni sites of the adsorbent. Based on these observations, the mechanism of RADS of FCC gasoline over NiSO4/ZnO-Al2O3-SiO2 adsorbent has been proposed, which provides theoretical support for the development of new adsorbents and the optimization of RADS process.