Natural Gas Condensate Desulfurization via Polyacrylonitrile/Ag Nanocomposite Nanofibers: Optimization and Kinetics/isotherms Studies

In the present study for the first time, a novel polyacrylonitrile-silver nanocomposite nanofiber was synthesized by electrospinning for adsorbing sulfur compounds in natural gas condensate. The synthesized material was characterized by SEM, EDAX, and XRD. The presence of C, N, O, and Ag proved that the composite was synthesized successfully. In order to achieve the best adsorption conditions, the effect of contact time, adsorbent dosage and initial sulfur compound concentration was examined. Under optimal values, efficiency of greater than 90% was found. In addition, different isotherms and kinetics models were tested to describe the sorption process. It was found that Freundlich (0.9900) was superior to Langmuir (0.9688), Temkin (0.9648) and Dubinin-Radushkevich (0.8273) models, revealing that sulfur compounds tend to for, multilayers on the heterogeneous surface of polyacrylonitrile-silver nanocomposite nanofiber. The energy value of the adsorption was 23.57 kJ/mol, indicating chemisorption reactions. Based on kinetics studies, the desulfurization by nanofibers followed Pseudo-second-order and Elovich kinetics. Finally, the desulfurization function of nanocomposite was studied and validated using adsorbent columns. The obtained results demonstrate polyacrylonitrile-silver nanocomposite nanofiber as a promising material in the field of desulfurization.