Boosting oxidative desulfurization from liquid fuels with CuO-MgO assisted by MgMoO4 co-catalyst

Developing a highly efficient catalyst is one of the important topics in the field of oxidative desulfurization from liquid fuels. In this study, the composite metal oxide catalysts (CuO-MgO) with co-catalyst MgMoO4 were prepared by co-precipitation method with simple process, high efficiency and good performance and their structures characterized. An efficient extractive catalytic oxidative desulfurization (ECODS) system for liquid fuel was successfully developed on the basis of as-prepared CuO-MgO-MgMoO4 (CuMgMo) as the catalyst, sodium hypochlorite (NaClO) as the oxidant, and acetonitrile as the extractant. Taking the n-decane and n-tetradecane containing dibenzothiophene (DBT) as the test model oil sample, the main parameters influencing desulfurization performance were examined in detail, such as the molybdenum content, the dosage of CuMgMo, the reaction temperature, the initial S-concentration, the different extractants, the volume ratio of extractant to oil, the different oxidants, and the molar ratio of NaClO to DBT. Based on optimized desulfurization reaction conditions, the model oil containing different sulfur compounds (benzothiophene, 4-methyldibenzothiophene, and 4,6-dimethyldibenzothiophene) and the real oil (straight-run gasoline, straight-run kerosene, and straight-run diesel) were further tested. Based on the free radical trapping experiments and the calculation of density functional theory, the reaction mechanism was deeply explored. The results showed that the de-electron reaction of DBT was mainly catalyzed by MgMoO4 and the reaction of HClO obtaining electron was mainly catalyzed by CuO. MgMoO4 plays an assisting role in improving the catalytic reaction rate. This work will provide a useful reference for the construction of efficient ECODS system using composite metal oxides.