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In recent years, the sulfur-containing substances produced by fossil fuel combustion have caused overwhelming pollution to the ecological environment, and fuel desulfurization research is imperative. In this paper, 16 ionic liquids (ILs), which are environmentally friendly, easily degradable and have good prospects for industrial application, were selected by combining four cations and four anions for fuel desulfurization research. The desulfurization mechanism of ILs was first investigated by molecular mechanism studies, in which quantum chemical simulations were used for preliminary screening based on the selectivity coefficient of infinite dilution activity coefficient. And the experimental study of extraction desulfurization was carried out with dibenzothiophene (DBT) and n-heptane as model oils. The above mechanism study and experiments examined the effects of temperature, initial fuel oil concentration and ILs to fuel oil feed ratio on the extraction efficiency, and the results showed that both [C 2 COOCH 3 ImC 6 H 13 ][N(CN) 2 ] and [C 2 COOCH 3 ImC 6 H 13 ][NTF 2 ] ILs have more prominent extraction properties. Among them, [C 2 COOCH 3 ImC 6 H 13 ][NTF 2 ] exhibits high desulfurization efficiency for a wide range of sulfur concentration in fuel oils at room temperature due to the advantages of simple preparation method and easier industrialization of the [C 2 COOCH 3 ImC 6 H 13 ][NTF 2 ]. The above experimental results are fully consistent with the molecular simulation predictions, indicating that the theoretical study and experimental method proposed in this paper are simple and feasible. • [C 2COOCH3 ImC 6 H 13 ][NTF 2 ] was selected from 16 ionic liquids for desulfurization. • The extraction mechanism was studied by experiments and molecular simulation. • [C 2COOCH3 ImC 6 H 13 ][NTF 2 ] has strong interaction with S atom in DBT. • Molecular simulation results were used to guide the experiments. • Controlled studies for suitable operating conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In an attempt to obtain accurate values of the gas permeability of the microporous layer (MPL), substrates with negligible MPL penetration and of known gas permeability, i.e. membrane filters, have been employed. The values of the MPL permeability obtained using the membrane filters were compared with those obtained conventionally using the carbon substrates. Due to MPL penetration, the MPL permeability obtained using the carbon substrate were found to decrease with carbon loading. On the other, due to negligible penetration, the MPL permeability obtained using the membrane filters were found to be almost invariant with the carbon loadings. Furthermore, the MPL permeability was found to be sensitive to the substrate used: more cracks (and subsequently substantially higher permeability) were shown by the MPLs coating the carbon substrates. This implies that the MPLs coating the carbon substrates and the MPLs coating the membrane filters are structure-wise different. It subsequently means that the MPL permeability obtained using the membrane filters cannot be used to estimate the MPL penetration into the carbon substrates. Highlights • The MPL permeability obtained from the carbon substrate decreases with increasing carbon loading. • A membrane filter with negligible penetration was used to estimate MPL permeability. • The MPL permeability obtained from the membrane was invariant with increasing carbon loading. • The MPL permeability is sensitive to the substrate used for MPL application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]