Sulfur Compounds Removal Methods from Crude Oil

In general, the amount of sulfur in crude oil, depending on the source, varies between 0.025 and sometimes about 7.89 wt%. For example, Middle East Oil contains about 1.5 to 3 weight percent sulfur. In general, crude oil contains both inorganic and organic sulfur. In addition to elemental sulfur, sulfate, sulfite, thiosulfate and thiosulfide and more than 200 organic sulfur compounds have been identified in petroleum which includes sulfides, thiols, or mercaptans and thiophene and more complex molecules such as dibenzo thiophene and thiophene. In this article, desulfurization different methods are discussed including hydrodesulfurization, extractive desulfurization, oxidative desulfurization, biodesulfurization and desulfurization through alkylation, chlorinolysis and desulfurization by supercritical water. The results of this study show that the best method for desulfurization of crude oils is autoxidation followed by thermal decomposition of the oxidized product.