Anisotropic designing of persimmon wood-duplicated macroporous (a%Mo-Mn)1.5Al0.5Ox and high expectative desulfurization behavior in hot coal gas

A series of macroporous three-dimensional (3-D) (a%Mo-Mn)1.5Al0.5Ox sorbents with anisotropic structures was fabricated by the self-assembly of vacuum-assisted sol-gel in the persimmon wood-derived channels, over which expectative desulfurization performance had been investigated in a fixed reactor. High breakthrough sulfur capacity (299.1 mg·g−1) and effective utilization (EU, 93.5%) over (6%Mo-Mn)1.5Al0.5Ox at 600 °C were obtained as the best results on Mo-doping sorbents up to date. The outcomes of 7 successive desulfurization-regeneration cycles at 600 °C verified that the persimmon wood-duplicated straight channel (6%Mo-Mn)1.5Al0.5Ox sorbent was highly stable, regenerable, and durable. The characterization on the physical properties and detailed structure of sorbents, such as ESEM-EDX, XRD, XPS, TG/DSC techniques, revealed that the existence of wood-duplicated macroporous channels promoted the sulfur/oxygen exchange efficiency between H2S and metal oxides, steam-resistance ability, as well as resolved scientific problem on low loadings of reactive component, which provided a promising novel way for the fabrication of low-cost and environmentally friendly desulfurization materials. The more Mo-doping in (a%Mo-Mn)1.5Al0.5Ox will decline breakthrough sulfur capacity due to the formation of a dense MoS2 layer during desulfurization. [Display omitted] •Fast S/O exchange between H2S and oxides on interface of macroporous channel walls.•High sulfur capacity (299.1 mg·g−1) and utilization (93.5%) over (6%Mo-Mn)1.5A0.5Ox.•High H2O-resistance ability correlated with direct desorption of H2O in macropore.•The possible desulfurization mechanism over (a%Mo-Mn)1.5Al0.5Ox was first proposed.