Design and fabrication of nanoporous adsorbents for the removal of aromatic sulfur compounds

Nanoporous adsorbents are highly efficient in selectively capturing aromatic sulfur compounds such as thiophene, benzothiophene, dibenzothiophene, and 4,6-dimethyldibenzothiophene that are refractory to remove by traditional techniques from liquid hydrocarbon fuels. In the past decades, great progress has been made in design and fabrication of nanoporous adsorbents as well as the judicious strategies of promoting their performance for deep desulfurization. However to the best of our knowledge, a comprehensive review from this perspective has never been reported until now. Therefore, a review summarizing these nanoporous adsorbents and advanced strategies is highly anticipated. In this review, we provide an overview of the synthesis methods, improvement strategies, and prospective of the nanoporous adsorbents for applications with adsorptive desulfurization. The concerned materials cover most of the traditional and recently emerged nanoporous materials, and are introduced and basically grouped by material type. Each category is illustrated with some typical examples, and the fundamental principles on how to design and fabricate nanoporous adsorbents are highlighted. The adsorption mechanism is discussed in detail as well.