Preparation of activated carbon, zinc oxide and nickel oxide composites for potential application in the desulfurization of model diesel fuels

The present study focuses on the new method for preparation of activated carbon (AC), activated carbon/zinc oxide (AC/ZnO), and activated carbon/zinc oxide/nickel oxide (AC/NiO/ZnO), as potential alternative adsorbents to commercially activated carbon (CAC) for the desulfurization of model diesel fuels (MDFs) at ambient temperature. The textural properties, the morphology and the crystallinity of as-synthesized adsorbents were examined by N₂-physisorption, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD), respectively. The as-developed adsorbents were evaluated for desulfurization of thiophene (T), benzothiophene (BT), and dibenzothiophene (DBT) in n-hexane. Our results show that the incorporation of metal oxides (ZnO and NiO) onto the surface of activated carbon enhanced the adsorption capacity significantly. AC/NiO/ZnO possessed the highest adsorption capacity among the adsorbents and could be employed as a low-cost adsorbent for adsorptive desulfurization.