The purpose of this work is to develop a reliable procedure for determination of liquid phase heats of adsorption via a flow calorimetric technique. The second objective is to study heats of adsorption of target sulfur compounds on potential desulfurization sorbents. Thirdly, we strive to relate the data obtained to the properties of both the sorbent and sorbates studied. Finally, the ultimate goal of this research is to use the data obtained to develop a high capacity selective adsorbent for the desulfurization of diesel fuel. Liquid phase flow adsorption experiments were conducted on sodium-Y zeolite (NaY), nickel exchanged NaY zeolite (NiY) and cesium-exchanged NaY zeolite (CsY). The solutions used in calorimetric experiments included naphthalene in n-hexadecane (C16), dibenzothiophene (DBT) in C16, and quinoline in C16. These solutions were used to model the adsorption of aromatic, sulphur-containing and nitrogen-containing compounds in diesel fuel, respectively. Additional experiments were conducted using equimolar concentrations of all three species in C16 to examine competitive adsorption behaviour of the mixture. During heat flow experiments, effluent samples were collected and analysed to obtain breakthrough curves for the systems. Heat of adsorption data were obtained via flow microcalorimetry using a novel procedure developed by this group. In this study, some experiments were conducted to examine the repeatability and utility of this new method. Characterization experiments were also conducted including BET surface area analysis, X-Ray diffraction (XRD) analysis and Inductively Coupled Plasma – Optical Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-OES) analysis to determine the properties of the sorbents. These properties were then related to data obtained in flow adsorption calorimeter experiments. A detailed discussion on the development of a novel method for determination of liquid phase heats of adsorption is presented. Analysis of calculation results using this new method show good repeatability relative to the previous method used. Equilibrium adsorption relationships are developed using the Langmuir adsorption model, and these results are compared to flow adsorption results obtained from the calorimeter. Results indicate that in terms of desulfurization capability, NaY appeared to be the best sorbent. Heats of adsorption were only moderate on NaY, indicating that regeneration of the sorbent would not be difficult, and NaY had the highest sulfur capacity of the sorbents studied. This result was not in agreement with literature results, and it is proposed that the discrepancy is the result of disruption of the crystalline structure of our sorbents during the modification process. Recommendations are presented for ongoing work, including important calorimeter experiments, modifications for improvement of experimental procedure and apparatus, additional sorbent characterization for elucidation of adsorption mechanisms, and finally experiments for verification and further validation of our innovative experimental technique.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:WATERLOO/oai:uwspace.uwaterloo.ca:10012/3701 |
| Date | 15 May 2008 |
| Creators | Thomas, John Keir |
| Source Sets | University of Waterloo Electronic Theses Repository |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis or Dissertation |
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