|
Keywords
|
Dibenzothiophene,Transportation fuel, Aromatic organosulfur compounds, Photocatalyst, ZnO, FSM-16, MCM-41
|
|
Abstract
|
Photocatalytic degradation of dibenzothiophene was studied by use of ZnO/FSM-16 photocatalyst under UV and
visible light irradiations. The photocatalyst was prepared by incorporation of ZnO into the FSM-16 nano-sized
particles through reaction with zinc acetate solution followed by calcination process. The diffuse reflectance
spectroscopy (DRS) and photoluminescence (PL) analysis indicated that immobilization of ZnO on the surface of
catalyst support lowered its bang gap energy to visible region and enhanced its degradation efficiency by
lowering electron/hole recombination. The nanocomposite was characterized by XRD, FTIR, and BET techniques.
It was concluded that the surface area of the synthesized photocatalyst was sufficiently high to promote the
adsorption of the pollutant and subsequently enhanced the degradation process. The effect of different experimental
parameters and the presence of H2O2 and some organic scavenger on degradation efficiency was studied.
The results showed that under optimized conditions 80% of dibenzothiophene was degraded. The catalyst retained
its activity after six regeneration cycles. The degradation products including the sulfur containing compounds
were efficiently removed by use of MCM-41 adsorbent.
|