Mesoporous silica nanoparticles for high capacity adsorptive desulfurization

Mesoporous silica nanoparticles for high capacity adsorptive desulfurization

Type	Journal Article
Author	Jessica M. Palomino
Author	Dat T. Tran
URL	http://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2014/ta/c4ta02570a
Volume	2
Issue	36
Pages	14890-14895
Publication	Journal of Materials Chemistry A
Date	2014-08-19
Abstract	Desulfurized JP-8 fuel is interesting for use as the hydrogen feedstock of fuel cells. Unfortunately, the refractory aromatic sulfur species present are difficult to remove using conventional methods. Author report the first use of mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSN) for desulfurization and the material displays a four-fold greater performance towards JP-8 fuel over previous sorbents. The bulk form of mesoporous silica displays a three-fold greater level of desulfurization. Silver-impregnated nanoparticle and bulk MCM-41 were found to have saturation adsorption capacities of 32.6 mgS g−1 and 25.4 mgS g−1, respectively. MSN exhibited a high capacity for the difficult to remove 4,6-dimethyldibenzothiophene along with a two-fold improvement in breakthrough capacity over previously published materials, of 0.98 mgS g−1 at 10 ppmwS.