Phosphomolybdic acid-based sulfur-containing metal–organic framework as an efficient catalyst for dibenzothiophene oxidative desulfurization

The removal of sulfur compounds to produce low-sulfur-content fuel oil has become a common goal for the refining industry and environmental protection. Herein, novel HPMo@DUT-67 composites were obtained by inducing the autonomous assembly of MOFs with polyoxometalate as guest molecules. The influence of introducing the polyoxometalate on the microstructure of HPMo@DUT-67 composites was investigated by fourier transform infrared spectra, X-ray diffraction, N2 adsorption–desorption isotherms, scanning electron microscope, and energy dispersive X-ray. The catalytic activity of the catalysts for oxidative desulfurization of model fuel was evaluated using hydrogen peroxide as the oxidant. The results showed that 50-HPMo@DUT-67 exhibited the highest catalytic activity with a DBT conversion of 97.57%. Catalytic efficiency still reached above 93% after 6 cycles of use with excellent reusability. In addition, kinetic studies showed that the oxidative desulfurization processes were consistent with the pseudo-first-order model.