Desulfurization by graphene/metal oxide composites

Desulfurization of fuels has received worldwide attention. The conventional desulfurization method in refineries is hydrodesulfurization (HDS) process. However, in conventional HDS, it is difficult to remove aromatic sulfur compounds, such as dibenzothiophene (DBT) [1] . A non-HDS technique, such as adsorptive desulfurization, relying on p-complexation bonding, is promising since the adsorption process could be accomplished at ambient temperature and pressure. Carbon materials (e.g. activated carbon, carbon nanotubes) have been widely investigated to adsorb thiophene compounds [2]. Carbon based materials have also been investigated because of their high surface area. The goal of this research is to develop appropriate graphene/rGO-based adsorbents which can achieve deep desulfurization level from liquid and gas-phase sulfur compounds [3,4] .