Catalytic oxidative desulfurization of gasoline using organic-inorganic hybrid IMD-PWZn@NiO nanocatalyst

A new organic-inorganic hybrid nanocatalyst (IMD-PWZn@NiO) has been prepared by supporting the imidazolium salt of Zn-substituted phosphotungstate on nickel oxide particles. The synthesized materials were characterized by FTIR, XRD and SEM analysis techniques. The catalytic activity of the prepared composite was evaluated in the oxidative desulfurization (ODS) process of gasoline fuel. The ODS process was successfully developed on the basis of the catalytic oxidation of organosulfur compounds using CH3COOH/H2O2 as an oxidizing agent. The removal of the sulfur content and mercaptan compounds of gasoline reached 97 and 96% at 35 °C after 1 h, respectively. The various experiments were taken into consideration to investigate the effects of catalyst amount and reaction temperature on sulfur removal efficiency. The nanocatalyst was found to give remarkable reusability for five times. The obtained data illustrated that IMD-PWZn@NiO/CH3COOH/H2O2 oxidation system could be a convenient strategy for ODS of gasoline under moderate reaction conditions.