Unraveling How the H2 Treatment Helps Improve the Performances of Cu and Ag Loaded Y Zeolites for Adsorptive Desulfurization

Zhengjian Hou; Ling Wei; Xinyuan Feng; Neng Qin; Huijie Wei; Yanyan Xi; Xufeng Lin; Chuangye Wang

doi:10.1021/acsomega.9b03647

Unraveling How the H₂ Treatment Helps Improve the Performances of Cu and Ag Loaded Y Zeolites for Adsorptive Desulfurization

ACS Omega. 2020 Mar 16;5(12):6309-6320. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.9b03647. eCollection 2020 Mar 31.

Authors

Zhengjian Hou^{1

2}, Ling Wei^{1

3}, Xinyuan Feng³, Neng Qin², Huijie Wei², Yanyan Xi^{1

3}, Xufeng Lin^{1

2}, Chuangye Wang^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Heavy Oil Processing, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qingdao 266580, P. R. China.
² College of Science, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qingdao 266580, P. R. China.
³ College of Chemical Engineering, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qingdao 266580, P. R. China.

Abstract

This work seeks for a better understanding on how the gas treatment process affected the structure of metal loaded zeolite Y (MY, M = Ag, Cu) adsorbants and how the structural changes affected the performances of the adsorbents for adsorptive desulfurization. A series of characterization tools including solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance were employed. Compared to the N₂ treatment, the H₂ treatment on the MY adsorbents led to the reduction of the loaded M components to their metallic state and, consequently, brought several structural changes to the zeolitic framework. The structural changes brought by the H₂ treatment can be accounted for the decreased Brönsted acidity over the Lewis acidity of the adsorbents and thus helped in improving their adsorption capacity. This paper provides new insights on how the zeolitic framework changes affected the sulfur adsorption capacity of MY, which is helpful for designing better adsorbents for sulfur removal from oil.