SEPARATION OF SULFUR-CONTAINING COMPOUNDS FROM DIESEL BY OXIDATION FOLLOWED BY SOLVENT EXTRACTION IN A SINGLE DROP COLUMN

Abstract Oxidative desulfurization (ODS) is an attractive complementary or alternative process for the hydrodesulfurization (HDS) process due to advantages such as mild operating conditions. In the ODS process, the sulfur-containing compounds are oxidized first to polar sulfoxide and sulfone products and then these polar compounds are separated using solvent extraction or an adsorption process. In the present study, the separation of oxidized sulfur-containing compounds of diesel as a real fuel has been investigated using extraction in a single drop column. The oxidation system was hydrogen peroxide/formic acid. The selected solvent for the extraction of oxidized sulfur-containing compounds was dimethylformamide (DMF). In single drop tests, the effect of various parameters including the drop size (1.70-4.60 mm) and column height (228-550 mm) on the different parameters such as drop velocity and sulfur concentration in the dispersed and continuous phases has been investigated. The outcome of this study provides valuable insights for designing the extraction column for separation of oxidized sulfur-containing compounds from middle distillate fuels in an ODS process.