Application of Inorganic Materials to Desulfurize Jet Fuel
Physical and Biological Sciences
Chemistry
Reducing the amount of sulfur content in fossil fuels is a research interest that has been gradually increasing. Emission of sulfur into the environment has raised concern for many people due to its hazardous effects into the atmosphere. Thus, many methods have been developed to decrease the amount of sulfur in these fuels as the demand of fuel remains. Fossil fuels contain a large amount of aromatic sulfur compounds that cannot be removed by hydrodesulfurization (HDS). HDS is a common method to remove small sulfur compounds. However, this technique is inefficient on fossil fuels such as army jet fuels due to their larger sulfur aromatic compounds with structure and size. Recent techniques are to remove sulfur through adsorptive processes such as inorganic materials. These mesoporous materials contain channels and structures that can capture these aromatic compounds. Some common materials synthesized to desulfurize are silica nanoparticles and Al-MCM-41 and related materials.
