Comparative Study on Adsorptive Removal of Organic Sulfur Compounds over Cu-Exchanged NaY Zeolites

The adsorptive removal of organic sulfur compounds including tert-butylmercaptane(TBM), tetrahydrothiophene(THT) and dimethylsulfide(DMS) in methane was investigated over NaY and copper-exchanged NaY (CuNaY) zeolites at 303 K and atmospheric pressure. In the ternary adsorption system, the preferential adsorption of THT over other sulfur compounds on NaY and the concurrent adsorption of all sulfur compounds on CuNaY were achieved, which could be explained by the breakthrough curve, the temperature-programmed desorption, and the apparent activation energy for desorption. The sulfur uptake capacity of CuNaY(2.90 similar to 3.20 mmol/g) was much higher than that of NaY(0.70 similar to 0.90 mmol/g). A comparative study indicated that the Cu1+ sites and acidity of CuNaY were probably responsible for the strong interaction with sulfur atom and high sulfur uptake abilities.