Magnetic POM-based mesoporous silica for fast oxidation of aromatic sulfur compounds

It is of great importance to develop efficient catalysts to achieve sulfur removal in fuel, protecting the world against the pollution caused by sulfur oxides. Aiming that, polyoxometalates supported materials have been employed as a vital class of heterogeneous catalysts for oxidative desulfurization. In this study, a serial of magnetic polyoxometalates-based mesoporous silica hybrid materials were successfully prepared over a facile hydrothermal and impregnation method, and evaluated in fast oxidation of aromatic sulfur. These hybrid materials exhibited interesting feature of rapid separation by external magnets, and excellent desulfurization performance to refractory sulfur compounds (benzothiophene, 3-methylbenzothiphene, dibenzothiophene, 4-methyldibenzothiophene and 4,6-dimethyldibenzothiphene). Furthermore, the sulfur removal could still reach 94% after recycling for ten times, which could be potentially applied in industry production.