Designing recyclable Cu/ZrSBA-15 for efficient thiophene removal

Adsorptive desulfurization (ADS) is an effective method for the selective capture of thiophenic sulfur compounds , and the ADS capacity of an adsorbent has been demonstrated to strongly depend on the dispersion degree of active species. Herein, series of zirconia-modified SBA-15 (ZrSBA-15) framework with uniformly dispersed Cu sites have been prepared via a urea-assisted homogeneous deposition strategy, aiming for efficient adsorption towards thiophene . The resultant materials were thoroughly characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), N 2 adsorption–desorption isotherms, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and diffuse reflectance spectra (DRS) analysis techniques. It was revealed that the Cu species were highly dispersed inside the ordered ZrSBA-15 framework with platelet morphology, rather than aggregation outside the surface, leading to excellent adsorption capacity for thiophene (up to 9.35 mg/g at 50 °C). The adsorption kinetics and isotherm data can be well described by the pseudo-second-order kinetics model and the Langmuir isotherm, respectively. Spent adsorbent can be regenerated by simple heating treatment in N 2 at 500 °C, without obvious losing of thiophene adsorption capacity even after eight cycles.