Removal of N-compounds from diesel with a ternary complex system of six water ferric chloride/methanol/acetic acid

Nitrogen (N)-compounds in diesel cause a great harm to the environment as well as diesel. In this paper, N-compounds present in diesel were removed with a ternary complex denitrification system, including six water ferric chloride, methanol, and acetic acid. The factors affecting the process of removing N-compounds were investigated. The results showed that the optimum process includes six water ferric chloride to acetic acid to methanol in the ratio of 0.0667 g:2.5 mL:5 mL, the mass ratio of denitrification agents to diesel of 0.4, the reaction temperature of 35 degrees C, the reaction time of 120 s, and the resting time of 7 min. Under the above optimum condition, the denitrification rate reached 98.38% and the recovery rate of diesel reached 96.34%; the denitrification process had a little effect on the other physico-chemical properties of diesel.