A potential material for removal of nitrogen compounds in petroleum and petrochemical derivates

• Published in: Chemical engineering communications 2021-11, Vol.208 (11), p.1564-1579
• Main Authors: Carvalho, Matheus Antoniel Félix de, Aguiar, Deborah Victória Alves, Vaz, Boniek Gontijo, Ferreira, Maria Eugênia de Oliveira, Andrade, Laiane Alves de, Ostroski, Indianara Conceição
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Activated carbon; Adsorbents; Adsorption; Alternative adsorbent; Crude oil; Design of experiments; Diesel fuels; Evolutionary algorithms; Evolutionary computation; Mass spectrometry; Nitrogen; Nitrogen compounds; NOx emission; oil denitrogenation; Optimization; Selective adsorption; Sulfuric acid
• ISSN: 0098-6445; 1563-5201
• DOI: 10.1080/00986445.2020.1798938

Activated carbon from coconut shell (Elaeis guineensis), in both crude and chemically modified forms, was evaluated as an adsorbent for removing nitrogen compounds of samples from synthetic and real fuel. The preliminary adsorption tests showed that 97.95 of indoline was removed by sulfuric acid-treated activated carbon (SAAC). The optimum conditions toward adsorption of nitrogen-containing compounds in crude oil (54 °C, 150 rpm and 1.104 g of adsorbent) was evaluated according to the design of experiments (DOE) technique associated with Differential Evolution optimization algorithm and an effective removal of 30.37% of basic nitrogenous compounds present in crude oil was achieved. For comparative effect, the tests were carried out using the previously optimized condition with the vacuum residue, diesel S-500, and diesel S-10, obtaining the removal of 21.56%, 44.44%, and 62.09%, respectively. Complementing the quantitative analysis, the analysis of mass spectrometry confirmed that coconut shell is a potential material for selective adsorption of nitrogenous compounds.