Expanded polystyrene waste with Lead-Organic frameworks for adsorptive desulfurization of gasoline

In the current work, a Pb-based metal–organic framework (Pb-MOF) is integrated with expanded polystyrene (EPS) waste for adsorptive desulfurization of dibenzothiophene (DBT) from gasoline. Pb-MOF is synthesized using lead nitrate and 1,4-benzenedicarboxylic acid and incorporated into a clear EPS-tetrahydrofuran solution through ultra-sonication to obtain the Pb-MOF-EPS membrane. The as-prepared Pb-MOF, pristine EPS, and Pb-MOF-EPS membranes are characterized by FTIR, SEM, and EDX. The Pb-MOF-EPS membrane is exposed to 10 ppm DBT solution made in n-hexane, at room temperature as it showed enhanced removal of DBT compared to pristine EPS. Moreover, the Pb-MOF-EPS membrane also demonstrated efficient removal of DBT from commercial gasoline without any sample pre-treatment requirement. The study exhibits that waste EPS can be functionalized with MOFs for adsorptive desulfurization thus, utilizing waste polymer for offering a sustainable and low-cost solution for thiophenes removal.