Modification of clinoptilolite as a natural zeolite by copper oxide nanoparticles for efficient desulfurization of kerosene.

In recent years, researchers are looking for ways to reduce the amount of sulfur in kerosene. Therefore, desulfurization of kerosene is considered an important commercial and environmental process. Among the hard and complicated methods available for the desulfurization process, natural zeolites can be a suitable alternative for the desulfurization of oil products due to their economic efficiency, biocompatibility, and natural abundance of oil reserves. In this research, natural zeolite (clinoptilolite) was modified with CuO nanoparticles and used as adsorbent for desulfurization of kerosene. The effect of important parameters such as adsorbent dose, pH of solution and initial adsorbate concentration were investigated. Results indicated the optimum conditions as follows: dose of adsorbent 2 g, pH 10 and the adsorbate dose 200 ppm. Results showed that the modified adsorbent is a suitable, low-cost and good efficiency for the desulfurization process of kerosene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]