Deep desulfurization of fuels using supported ionic liquid-polyoxometalate hybrid as catalyst: A comparison of different types of ionic liquids

In this work, polyoxometalates-based monomer ionic liquid, dimer ionic liquid and polyionic liquid were designed and prepared. Then supported catalysts were synthesized by loading polyoxometalate derivatives on the surface of graphene oxide (GO). The catalysts before and after loading were characterized via many tests such as scanning electron microscope (SEM), infrared spectroscopy (IR), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and so on. The influences of ionic liquid type and carrier on desulfurization activity were carried out. The result shows that supported catalyst-based polyionic liquid (P[Vim]POM/GO) performed high activity and excellent recyclability in extraction-oxidation desulfurization (EODS) due to unique state of polyoxometalate and the support of graphene oxide. In addition, the possible mechanism of oxidation dibenzothiophene (DBT) with H₂O₂ was proposed according to the kinetic study and gas chromatography-mass spectrometer (GC-MS) result.