Claims
- 1. A method for reducing the sulfur content of a sulfur-containing hydrocarbon liquid feed stream comprising:
contacting said hydrocarbon feed stream with transition metal particles, containing transition metal in a zero oxidation state and having an average diameter of less than about 200 nm, under reaction conditions sufficient to provide a product having a reduced sulfur content and metal sulfide particles; and separating said metal sulfide particles from said product.
- 2. A method according to claim 1, wherein said transition metal particles are provided by:
adding a source of transition metal precursors to said liquid feed stream; and sonicating said liquid feed stream/metal precursor combination under conditions sufficient to produce said transition metal particles.
- 3. A method according to claim 2, wherein said source of transition metal precursors comprises a transition metal carbonyl precursor.
- 4. A method according to claim 3, wherein said transition metal carbonyl precursor is of the formula:
- 5. A method according to claim 4, wherein said transition metal is selected from Fe or Mo.
- 6. A method according to claim 2, wherein said source of transition metal precursors is added to said liquid feed stream in an amount sufficient to provide at least a 1:1 molar ratio of metal:sulfur.
- 7. A method according to claim 2, wherein said sonication conditions include contacting said feed stream with sonic vibrations having a frequency in the range of about 1 Hz to about 20 kHz, at a temperature in the range of about 10 to about 150° C. and a sonicating residence time in the range of about 1 second to about 2 hours.
- 8. A method according to claim 1, wherein the separating step is accomplished through at least one of setting out, decanting, filtration and centrifugal separation.
- 9. A method for reducing the sulfur content of a sulfur-containing hydrocarbon liquid feed stream under mild conditions, said method comprising:
adding a transition metal carbonyl precursor to said liquid feed stream; sonicating said liquid feed stream containing said transition metal carbonyl precursor at a temperature in the range of about 10° C. to about 150° C. for a time sufficient to produce solid metal sulfide particles and a liquid product having a reduced sulfur content; and separating said solid metal sulfide particles from said product.
- 10. A method according to claim 9, wherein said transition metal carbonyl precursor is selected from the group consisting of Fe (CO)5 and Mo (CO)6.
- 11. A method according to claim 9, further comprising adding a solvent to said liquid feed stream, prior to the sonicating step.
Government Interests
[0001] This invention was made with Government support under contract number DE-AC02-98CH10886, awarded by the U.S. Department of Energy. The Government has certain rights in the invention.