Organo-sulfur compounds are present as an impurity in all the major raw fuel sources including crude oil, coal and natural gas, and are often associated with problems like equipment corrosion, downstream catalyst poisoning, and environmental pollution. Metal oxides are typically used for reactive adsorption of such organosulfur compounds; however, the poor kinetics of adsorption requires high operating temperatures, resulting in energy inefficiencies and accompanying chemical reduction, volatilization and physical degradation of the metal oxide sorbent itself. With the objective of developing lower temperature sorbents, we investigate the potential of noble metals as catalysts for synergistically enhancing the reactivity of the metal oxide towards organosulfur compounds. In preliminary studies, we have found that with Au-loaded/ZnO nanoparticles, it was possible to achieve reactive adsorption of dodecanethiol at significantly lower temperatures (150�C) compared to pure zinc oxide (temperature in excess of 350�C). The performance of the Au/ZnO sorbent is being characterized in detail using X-ray diffraction and thermogravimetric analysis. The mechanism of the catalytic effect of Au will also be explored via analytical electron microscopy of the heterostructure.

Gold/ZnO nanoheterostructures do the incredible: Low-temperature reactive desulfurization

246th National Meeting (2013)

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