Preparation of activated carbon loaded copper adsorbent for removal of thiophene

The adsorbent of activated carbon (AC) loaded copper was prepared by using equal volume impregnation method, and its desulfurization performance of adsorbing thiophene in model diesel fuel was investigated. N2 adsorption, Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) and X-ray Diffraction (XRD) were adopted to characterize the prepared adsorbents. The effects of the immersion time, loading amounts of copper species, calcination temperature and calcination time of adsorbents on desulfurization performance were studied. The optimum preparation conditions were obtained as follows: immersion time 12 h, Cu loading amounts 5%(wt), calcination temperature 400°C and calcination time 2 h. Sulfur removal ratio reaches up to 95.7% by using the prepared adsorbents under the optimal experimental conditions. Possible adsorptive mechanism, that through π complexion the Cu(I) has a stronger adsorption removal ability for thiophene, was also studied at last, and further study in future is still necessary to investigate the specific adsorption mechanism.