An organic hybrid of phosphotungstic acid was prepared by using an industrial easy-prepared amine (i.e. hexamine) and characterized by elemental analyses, infrared spectrum, powder X-ray diffraction, thermal analyses, scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. An extractive and catalytic oxidative desulfurization process of sulfur-containing model fuel was studied using hexam ine-phosphotungstate hybrid as catalyst, hydrogen peroxide as oxidant and acetonitrile as extractant. The effects of the catalyst dosage and hydrogen peroxide dosage, the reaction time, and the reaction temperature on the removal of dibenzothiophene (DBT) were optimized by Taguchi method. Under the predicted conditions, the removal of DBT achieved 99.91%. The heterogeneous catalyst can be easily recovered and reused by centrifugation. Finally, the mild desulfurization reaction was applied to a gas condensate real sample. The result revealed that 91.07% sulfur removal is achieved at 60 degrees C upon using an O/S molar ratio of 10:1. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.