More Than One Way to Skin a Cat: Polyoxometalate

"One of the most striking differences between a cat and a lie is that a cat has only nine lives" -- Mark Twain in Pudd'nhead Wilson

Let’s be clear … cats should not be skinned, and why you would want to know more than one way to skin one is beyond me. But the thought behind the phrase is valid … there is more than one way to solve a problem. And that includes the problem of digging out the information you need to advance your research.

When it comes to online research, keywords are extremely important. They are so important that I look for them whenever I find an article with valuable content.

Today’s tip: do what I do. Read for content … Look for key words.

Today’s key word: Polyoxometalate

Here are a couple of articles that resulted from Googling® polyoxometalate

Zinc-Substituted Polyoxometalate for Oxidative Desulfurization of Dibenzothiophene
Authors: J. Lai a; G. Luo a
Affiliation: a Department of Chemistry, Liaoning Shihua University, Liaoning, P.R. China
Published in: Petroleum Science and Technology, Volume 27, Issue 8 January 2009 , pages 781 - 787
Abstract
An oxidative desulfurization process for model compound has been studied using Na12[WZn3(H2O)2(ZnW9O34)2] • 46H2O as catalyst and 30 wt% aqueous hydrogen peroxide as the oxidizing agent. The effects of the reaction time, the reaction temperature, the amount of the oxidizing agent and the catalyst on the removal of dibenzothiophene (DBT) were investigated. The oxidated resultant was removed by extraction with polar solvent to reduce the sulfur level in the model compound. The maximum removal of DBT was up to 70%.
Keywords: desulfurization; dibenzothiophene; hydrogen peroxide; oxidative polyoxometalates
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Fuel Processing Technology
Volume 90, Issue 3, March 2009, Pages 411-414
Oxidative desulfurization of Gas oil by polyoxometalates catalysts
W. Trakarnpruka, c, , and K. Rujiraworawutb
aDepartment of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand
bProgram of Petrochemistry and Polymer Science, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand
cCenter of Excellence for Petroleum, Petrochemicals, and Advanced Materials, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand
Abstract
Several polyoxometalates: Na2HPM12O40, H3PM12O40, Na2HPM12O40, (VO)H[PM12O40] and (n-Bu4N)3[PM12O40] (M = Mo and W) as well as (n-Bu4N)3 + x[PW12−xVxO40] (x = 0–3) were synthesized and characterized. Benzothiophene, dibenzothiophene and 4,6-dimethyl-dibenzothiophene were used as model sulfur compounds in gas oil. The oxidation reaction was performed using different polyoxometalates as catalyst and H2O2/acetic acid. The experimental results show that the W-based polyoxometalate catalysts are more active than the Mo catalysts. The oxidation reactivity of the catalysts depends on the type of countercation: Na+ > H+ > (VO)+ > (n-Bu4N)+. In a series of (n-Bu4N)3 + x [PW12−xVxO40] (x = 0–3) the order of catalytic activity is V3 > V2 > V1 > V0. The reactivity order of the sulfur compounds is: dibenzothiophene > 4,6-dimethyldibenzo-thiophene > benzothiophene. The catalytic system in this work was used for the oxidation of gas oil combined with solvent extraction to remove sulfur content in gas oil. Under mild reaction condition, high sulfur removal up to 98% can be achieved with high oil recovery (90%).

Stay tuned for future posts.
Jean Steinhardt, Principal
Jean Steinhardt Consulting LLC
www.JeanSteinhardtConsulting.com
research@JeanSteinhardtConsulting.com

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