Indirect hydrodesulfurization of gasoline via sodium borohydride reduction with nickel catalysis under ambient conditions

The present work introduced a novel indirect hydrodesulfurization (HDS) method for gasoline fuel at room temperature using an excellent reductant of sodium borohydride (NaBH4), which produces active hydrogen with Ni–B catalysis. Then the active hydrogen can convert S-compounds into hydrogen sulfide (H2S) or S2−, released from the gasoline. Under the optimized conditions the maximal desulfurization efficiencies of original and experimental gasoline can reach about 36.6% and 88%, respectively. It is a relatively clean and moderately indirect HDS method; after the process the Ni–B catalyst produced in the filtrate can be reused for the further desulfurization work. Moreover, the realization of the filtrate recycling, the evaluation of the hydrogen releasing and the exploration of catalyst development will be further helpful in cost reduction in future work.