Advances in Carbon-Based Nanocomposites for Deep Adsorptive Desulfurization

Abstract

The ultra-low sulfur diesel (ULSD) is required to comply with stricter government policy on low sulfur content of transportation fuels. Better knowledge of the different factors that concern deep desulfurization of fuels is necessary to achieve ultra-low sulfur content and cheaper way of producing ULSD. Both the capital and operating cost of the adsorptive desulfurization process is cheaper compare to the conventional hydroprocessing. In the future, the need to produce more volume of fuels with very low sulphur content from low-grade feedstocks like heavy oil and light cycle oil in order to meet up with the global demand for sulphur-free fuels is pertinent. Several on-going researches are pointing to the use of adsorbents for removal of sulfur compounds from hydrocarbon refining stream. In this chapter, varieties of carbon nanomaterials suitable for adsorptive desulfurization are discussed. If the active lifetime, where the capacity of the adsorbents are adequate, the approach is practically feasible for commercial application.