Abstract:
The presence of aromatics in fuel deters ultra-low sulfur fuel production. Consequently the researcher’s interest has involved the de-aromatization of fuels. Dearomatization would ultimately improve the quality of the fuels in terms of density, cetane number, viscosity etc. In this study, solvent extraction was adopted to de-aromatize a feedstock sample of 20.1 % aromatic and 166 ppm sulfur using acetonitrile. The extraction was performed at low temperatures 25, 35 and 45 °C and ambient atmospheric pressure. The aromatic contents were determined via HPLC, while ASTM methods were employed to determine other parameters. The results showed 72 % minimum yield, 8.6 % aromatic content, 58 - 64 cetane index, 73.2 ppm sulfur content, 5.4 viscosity, RI 1.4535, aniline point 82.15, specific gravity 0.824 – 0.812 with API 40.32 – 42.88 and flash point 70 – 78 °C, which reflects a significant improvement to the characteristics of the feedstock where these parameters were: aromatic content 20.1%, cetane index 54.4, sulpher content 166 ppm, RI 1.4581, aniline point76C, specific gravity@15 0.824 Kg/m³, with API 40.28 and flash point 68C.
