Beneficial effects of polycyclic aromatics on oxidative desulfurization of light cycle oil over phosphotungstic acid (PTA) catalyst

The amphiphilic phosphotungstic acid catalyst (A-PTA) was prepared with quaternary ammonium salt to apply for the oxidative desulfurization (ODS) of light cycle oil (LCO), resulting in high activity of the ODS conversion of 95%, at H2O2/S ratio of 10 and 353 K. The model reaction tests for the ODS of refractory sulfur compounds in n-octane demonstrated that the addition of indole drastically reduced overall ODS conversion, while the introduction of 1-methylnaphthalene fully recovered the ODS activity, which were attributed to the high solubility of the oxidized S or N compounds in the 2-ring aromatics.