Effect of surfactant modification on the desulfurization performance of Zn/Ti-PILCs adsorbent

Various surfactants were added during the synthesis of pillared clays Ti-PILCs to modify their structure and properties. Zn supported on the surfactant-modified Ti-PILCs (Zn/Ti-PILCs) was used as a desulfurization adsorbent and its performance in desulfurization of a model diesel oil containing dibenzothiophene (DBT) was investigated. The results showed that the capability of Zn/Ti-PILCs for DBT selective adsorption is enhanced by the surfactant modification. Especially, Zn/Ti-PILCs-CTAB obtained through modification with hexadecyl-trimethyl-ammonium bromide (CTAB) (CTAB/Ti molar ratio being 0.5) exhibits high desulfurization performance with a DBT removal rate of 96.3%. The characterization results of nitrogen sorption indicated that the surfactants added during the pillaring process can increase the surface area of the resultant Ti-PILCs and improve their pore distribution by enhancing the amounts of mesopores (1–4 nm).