Exploring boron nitride’s potential in adsorbing light mercaptans for fuel desulfurization

Abstract

This study addresses the challenges of desulfurizing natural gas condensate through selective adsorption using hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) material. h-BN was synthesized from thermal process of boric acid and mixture of urea and melamine with high specific surface area to be examined for light mercaptans removal from liquid fuel. characterization of synthesized adsorbent was done using X-ray diffraction, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), elemental analysis (CHN and ICP), and nitrogen adsorption/desorption analysis. Our findings confirmed synthesizing h-BN with high specific surface area of 1263 m²/g and hydroxyl group. This product was used as the adsorbent of ethyl, propyl and butyl mercaptans from the solution of n-heptane as the model molecule of the gas condensate liquid to obtain the equilibrium isotherms’ and kinetic adsorption data. It was revealed that the adsorption capacities were determined as 89.29 mg S/g for ethyl mercaptan, 103.66 mg S/g for propyl mercaptan, and 120.91 mg S/g for butyl mercaptan, significantly surpassing the commercial zeolite 13X adsorbent by 233% at room temperature. Kinetic experiments revealed that the pseudo-second-order model could best describe the rate of mercaptans’ adsorption. Notably, the synthesized h-BN was easily regenerated through the thermal treatment at moderate temperature of 150 °C, highlighting its potential for cyclic adsorption processes of desulfurization.