Novel Absorbent for the Desulfurization of Liquid Fuels

In order to employ logistic fuels in fuel cell applications, fuel sulfur content must be reduced to below 10 ppm. We propose a new sulfur removal technology that will remove greater than 99% of the sulfur present in conventionally processed fuels. Theproposed absorption-based technology requires no hydrogen feed, is very efficient, and can be regenerated without disrupting performance. Absorbent synthesis, characterization and testing will be performed in the Phase I effort. Significant reduction oflogistic fuel sulfur content will enable widespread application of fuel cell power generation devices within military and civilian markets. These devices will offer reduced noise, increased reliability and improved fuel efficiency over conventional powergenerators. Use of thoroughly desulfurized fuel in conventional applications will also reduce harmful exhaust emission, as current exhaust remediation catalysts operate better in low sulfur content exhaust. The proposed technology will work well in smallmobile desulfurization applications as well as large stationary applications.