Adsorptive desulfurization at ambient conditions is a promising and feasible approach for cleaning jet fuels prior to reformation in onsite fuel cell systems. This paper discusses the desulfurization performances of silver adsorbents supported on mixed oxide TiO2-Al2O3 for challenge JP5 and JP8 jet fuels. The adsorbent (1 mm avg. particle size) was tested in a fixed-bed configuration at room temperature and atmospheric pressure without requiring hydrogen or any activation process. The adsorbents were also characterized by N2 physisorption, O2 chemisorption, and SEM. In breakthrough experiments, 12wt%Ag/TiO2-Al2O3 adsorbent had saturation capacities of 12.73 and 7.11 mg S/g adsorbent for challenge JP5 and JP8, respectively. The adsorbent had excellent affinity towards refractory benzothiophene (BT) derivatives, although the attached methyl groups in trimethyl benzothiophenes (TMBT) create steric hindrance to adsorption. The adsorbent selectivity towards sulfur compounds present in jet fuels followed the order: BT>MBT>DMBT>TMBT. Ag/TiO2-Al2O3 adsorbent maintained its capacity after regeneration in air at elevated temperatures ranging from 110-450�C.

Desulfurization of JP5 and JP8 using mixed oxide supported silver adsorbents at room temperature for fuel cell applications

244th National Meeting (2012)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.