Removal of corrosive sulfur from insulating oil with adsorption method

Corrosive sulfur has been found in numerous mineral insulating oils. Adsorption is a promising method to remove the corrosive sulfur in insulating oil. In this paper, three types of adsorbents, CeY, CuY, and AgY, were prepared with liquid-phase ion exchange. The adsorbents were characterized by X-ray fluorescence, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, BET analysis, thermo-gravimetric/differential scanning calorimetry and X-ray diffraction. The results showed that active ions, Ce, Cu, and Ag, had highly decentralized into the lattice location of zeolites and occupied the cationic position. The adsorbents achieved good adsorption effect toward dibenzyl disulfide and dodecyl mercaptan through π complexation of Cu, Ag, and Ce cations in zeolites with sulfide.