Maryam Fayazi - Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman
Mohammad Ali Taher - Research Institute of Environmental Sciences
Daryoush Afzali - Environment Department, Research Institute of Environmental Sciences, International Center for Science, High Technology & Environmental Sciences, Kerman, Iran
Ali Mostafavi - Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Sciences, Shahid Bahonar University, Kerman, Iran

In the present study, removal of dibenzothiophene (DBT) from model oil (n-hexane) was investigated using magnetic activated carbon (MAC) nano-composite adsorbent. The synthesized nano-composite was characterized by FT-IR, FE-SEM, BET and VSM techniques. The MAC nano-composite exhibited a nearly superparamagnetic property with a saturation magnetization (Ms) of ۲۹.۲ emu g-۱, which made it desirable for separation under an external magnetic field. The magnetic adsorbent afforded a maximum adsorption capacity of ۳۸.۰ mg DBT g-۱ at the optimized conditions (adsorbent dose, ۸ g l-۱; contact time, ۱ h; temperature, ۲۵ °C). Langmuir, Freundlich and Temkin isotherm models were used to fit equilibrium data for MAC nano-composite. Adsorption process could be well described by the Langmuir model. Kinetic studies were carried out and showed the sorption kinetics of DBT was best described by a pseudo-second-order kinetic model. In addition, the MAC nano-composite exhibited good capability of recycling to adsorb DBT in gasoline deep desulfurization.

Magnetic, Desulfurization, Activated carbon, Adsorbent, Dibenzothiophene