Novel Research on the Use of Multi-Wall Carbon Nanotubes Functionalized with Copper Oxide Nanoparticles in the Adsorptive Desulphurization of Crude Oil: Laboratory Research

Abstract

Crude oil is known as liquid hydrocarbon, which is formed as a result of the metamorphosis of organic matter on earth. Crude oil is a complex mixture containing paraffin, naphthenes, olefins, aromatic compounds and a small but significant amount of sulphur. During refining crude oil; air pollutants such as COx, SOx and NOx, NH3, H2S, mercaptans, carbonyl sulfide and heavy metals are released. With the legal regulations made in many countries of the world, it obliges the use of environmentally friendly fuels containing less SOx and aromatic compounds. For this reason, an increasing number of studies are being carried out to reduce the number of sulphur compounds in crude oil as much as possible. For the same reason, in this study; firstly CuONPs and MWCNTs were synthesized separately, secondly MWCNTs were decorated with CuONPs the by the CVD method, and the third was characterized by SEM and XPS. Finally, 0.02 to 0.1 g of CuONPs/MWCNTs and MWCNTs were added separately to the crude oil and adsorptive desulphurization was performed with a contact time of 60 and 120 min. As a result of the experimental study, it has been determined that the desulphurization efficiency varies between 2.47% and 5.44%.