Preparation of Ordered Mesoporous W/MCM-41 and its Catalytic Performance in Oxidative Desulfurization of Dibenzothiophene

Highly ordered mesoporous catalyst W/MCM-41 with different tungsten loadings (5, 10 and 15 wt. %) was prepared via impregnation method using dilute sulfuric acid. The catalyst was characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electron microscope (SEM), energy dispersive scanning electron microscope (SEM/EDX), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and N2 adsorption. The results indicate that tungsten was introduced successfully into MCM-41 without changing its morphology even at high loading contents. Catalyzed oxidative desulfurization (ODS) of dibenzothiophene (DBT) was investigated and the activity of the synthesized materials was found to be significant, and gradually increased with increasing W loading on MCM-41support. Catalyst was also recycled and the results show no significant decrease in catalyst activity for three recycled runs was observed, while the fourth and fifth runs resulted in slight decrease in its activity.