engleski

Deep eutectic solvents as extraction media for fuel purification

Sulfur and nitrogen oxides, which are generated by combustion of fuels, have become one of the significant contributing factors to serious environmental pollution. Therefore, environmental concerns about the presence of sulfur and nitrogen compounds in fuels have prompted the governments of many countries to establish strict regulations regarding content of the mentioned components to reduce environmental pollution. Hydrodesulfurization (HDS) and hydrodenitrification (HDN) are conventional methods for the fuel purification process, which are commonly used in industrial applications. HDS can be applied to successfully remove aliphatic hydrocarbon sulfur content. However, removal of aromatic organic sulfides such as thiophene, benzothiophen, dibenzothiophen and its derivatives is difficult to achieve because of their large steric hindrance. In order to prevent the pollution from vehicle emission, new technologies have been suggested to reduce the content of undesirable compounds in fuels. Extractive desulfurization (EDS) and denitrification (EDN) are very popular methods because of their simple operating conditions, low costs, high extraction efficiency and they can be carried out using green solvents. The efficiency of EDS and EDN processes strongly depends on the choice of solvent. Deep eutectic solvent (DES) is a new, designed type of solvent which posseses excellent physical and chemical properties, satisfies the principles of green chemistry and is proven to be effective in various extraction processes. This study investigates extraction processes by using DESs and possible improvement of extraction process with nanosuspensions prepared with DESs. Nanosuspensions have been found to possess enhanced thermophysical properties. Use of nanosuspensions improves thermal properties as a result of Brownian motion of well dispersed nanoparticles in suspension. Improvements of mass transfer in extraction processes can be expected due to heat and mass transfer analogy. This study is focused towards preparation of stable nanosuspensions with DESs as base fluids, their implementation in extraction processes and achieving improvements in the removal of sulfur (thiophene) and nitrogen (pyridine) compounds from model fuel. For all performed experiments extractive denitrification proved to be more successful process than extractive desulfurization due to higher solubility of pyridine than thiophene in all investigated DESs. From the DESs with best extraction efficiency, stable nanosuspensions were prepared and extraction processes were performed

Deep eutectic solvent, denitrification, Desulfurization, Nanosuspension

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