Novel Membrane Reactor for the Desulfurization of Transportation Fuels

65036 The production of ultra low sulfur gasoline and diesel at a sustainable cost, and available in quantities that will meet the demands of U.S. drivers, is potentially the single most significant and costly challenge faced by the refining industry. While commercially available hydrotreating technology is available to reduce sulfur in fuels, the cost to meet federal standards has been estimated to be $12-16 billion. New, more cost efficient technology needs to be developed rapidly to provide alternatives to refiners in the 2006-2010 timeframe. This project will develop a novel electrochemical membrane reactor that is capable of reducing the sulfur content of gasoline to the identified limit of 30 ppm with essentially no loss in octane. It would also be capable of lowering the sulfur content of diesel to 10 MW).