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Photochemical Oxidation of Thiophene by O 2 in an Oil/Acetonitrile Two‐Phase Extraction System
Author(s) -
Li Fatang,
Zhao DiShun,
Li HongXia,
Liu RuiHong
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
annals of the new york academy of sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.712
H-Index - 248
eISSN - 1749-6632
pISSN - 0077-8923
DOI - 10.1196/annals.1454.002
Subject(s) - acetonitrile , thiophene , photochemistry , extraction (chemistry) , chemistry , phase (matter) , organic chemistry
Photochemical oxidation of thiophene in an n ‐octane/acetonitrile extraction system using O 2 as oxidant was studied. Results obtained here can be used as a reference for desulfurization of gasoline, because thiophene is one of the main components containing sulfur in fluid catalytic cracking gasoline. A 500‐W high‐pressure mercury lamp was used as a light source for irradiation, and air was introduced by a gas pump to supply O 2 . Thiophene dissolved in nopolar n ‐octane solvent was photodecomposed and removed into the polar acetonitrile phase. The desulfurization rate of thiophene in n ‐octane was 65.2% under photoirradiation for 5 h under the conditions of air flow at 150 mL min −1 , and V( n ‐octane):V(acetonitrile) = 1:1. This can be improved to 96.5% by adding 0.15 g Na‐ZSM‐5 zeolite into the 100‐mL reaction system, which is the absorbent for O 2 and thiophene. Under such conditions, the photooxidation kinetics of thiophene with O 2 and Na‐ZSM‐5 zeolite is first‐order with an apparent rate constant of 0.6297 h −1 and half‐time of 1.10 h. The sulfur content can be reduced from 800 μL L −1 to 28 μL L −1 .