Catalytic oxidative desulfurization of benzothiophene with hydrogen peroxide over Fe/AC in a biphasic model diesel-acetonitrile system

Catalytic oxidative desulfurization (Cat-ODS) of benzothiophene (BT) in n-octane has been investigated with hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) over catalysts of activated carbon (AC) supported iron oxide under mild conditions. The catalyst was characterized by N₂ adsorption, XRD, SEM/EDS, TPR and XPS. Under the best operating condition for the catalytic oxidative desulfurization—temperature 60 °C, atmospheric pressure, 0.15 g Fe/AC, 18 molar ratio of hydrogen peroxide to sulfur, using acetonitrile as extraction solvent for double extraction—the sulfur content in model diesel fuel (MDF) was reduced from 700 ppmw to 30 ppmw with 95.66% of total sulfur was removed.