Nanophotocatalytic Desulfurization of Hydrophane 10 Base Oil of Tehran Refinery

In this research, Ni(8%)/TiO2/Zeolite NaX nanophotocatalyst was synthesized andevaluated as a desulfurizer catalyst from hydrophane 10 base oil. Various tests,including X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy-Dispersive X-ray Analysis (EDXA), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), AtomicForce Microscopy (AFM), and BET/BJH were used to evaluate the photocatalystsynthesis process. Initially, using Design of Experiment (DOE) technique, optimuminfluential parameters were predicted, and 2D plus 3D diagrams were plotted.Then, 50 ml of oil containing 3782 ppm total sulfur, 0.6 g catalyst, 0.8 g adsorbent,and 3 h contact time were able to remove 20% of sulfur when exposed to thevisible light. Sulfur was measured at all steps using inductively coupled plasma(ICP) technique. The final results suggested that the nanophotocatalytic processis a feasible way when compared to difficult and complicated steps with harderconditions.