Oxidative desulfurization of fuel oil and molecular characterization of the sulfone compound distribution in the different extractants

PMoA/G5 catalyst was synthesized, and its oxidative desulfurization (ODS) performance on model oil was studied. The catalyst and oxidation-extraction-adsorption system was used for the ODS of Arabian Extra light oil (AXL). Acetonitrile and methanol were chosen as different extractants for the extraction of sulfones (O₂S and O₂S₄). The distribution of sulfone was first reported in detail at each of the three-stage extraction solvents at the molecular level analyzed by the Fourier-transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR MS), proton, and ¹³C nuclear magnetic resonance (¹H NMR,¹³C NMR). The FT-ICR MS results show that the extracted proportion of macromolecular sulfone compounds increases with the extraction stages. Acetonitrile exhibited better selectivity than methanol for polyaromatic sulfone with a high carbon number for the O₂S species with double bond equivalent (DBE) = 12–15 and O₂S₂ species with DBE = 11–16. The NMR results reveal that polyaromatics with naphthenic rings and a low carbon number (<30) can be easily extracted due to their high polarity. The excellent performance of the PMoA/G5 catalyst makes it a promising candidate in the ODS reaction, and the research results give guidelines for ODS technology.