Preparing an SbSn intermetallic compound by melt-annealing and application to electric desulfurization of crude oil

We prepared an SbSn intermetallic compound powder with a mixture of equal molar amounts of antimony (Sb) and tin (Sn) by melt-annealing and high-energy ball milling, and characterized the obtained substance with XRD (X-ray diffraction), DSC (differential scanning calorimetry), SEM (scanning electron microscopy), and XPS (X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy). The prepared SbSn has a hexagonal structure with a melting point of 425 °C. The particles have a dendritic appearance in micromorphology images. More Sb atoms are enriched on the surface than Sn atoms. A desulfurization efficiency of up to 33.92% can be obtained when applying this powder as a medium in the electric desulfurization of crude oil under the following conditions: an emulsion with a volumetric ratio of water to oil at 20:80, a surfactant mass fraction in the emulsion of 0.18%, a processing time of 17 h, and a voltage of 9.68 V. SbSn could be a promising catalyst for desulfurizing crude oil. The desulfurization performance is ascribed to the electron cavities formed by current induction.