The adsorption of dibenzothiophene using activated carbon loaded with cerium

Cerium-loaded activated carbon was prepared by classical soaking impregnation method and tested for dibenzothiophene adsorption from model fuels. The new adsorbents showed much better adsorption capacity and selectivity towards DBT than the virgin carbon. The adsorbents were characterized by N₂ adsorption, Boehm titration and FTIR. The improved performance is mainly due to changes in surface chemistry. The results show that the performance of activated carbon as desulfurization adsorbents can be considerably enhanced by a simple cerium loading method.