Abstract
The effectiveness of carbon nanotube/TiO2 (CNT/TiO2) adsorbents to desulfurize model fuels containing various thiophenes was studied. The CNT/TiO2 adsorbents were characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Experiments carried out in the film-shear reactor and in a batch reactor were both very effective in removing various recalcitrant thiophenes (typically > 80-90 % removal), but reactions in the film-shear reactor required far smaller TiO2 concentrations to be effective (0.01-0.1 wt/vol% vs. 1-10 % in the batch experiments). The effectiveness of the film-shear reactor is attributed to its ability to intimately mix the fuels and the CNT/TiO2 adsorbent. The CNT/TiO2 nanomaterial could be regenerated by heating without loss of desulfurization ability.