Abstract:
Biodesulfurization is an attractive method considered to be an alternative or complementary to hydrodesulfurization, helping refiners cost – effectively meet new sulfur regulations. Over past decades, this technology has been investigated aggressively, but it has not yet been successfully commercialized. One problem is the cost of biocatalysts. To reduce the cost, microorganisms with sufficiently high activity and wide substrate specificity should be developed. The aims of this study were to isolate and select the desulfurizing microorganisms with high activity and broad substrate specificity, and to investigate mass production of biocatalysts with high activity, which has the potential to reduce overall biocatalyst cost.
In this study, bacteria, which could utilize organosulfur compounds as a sulfur source, were isolated from oil sludge and soil samples. DBT desulfurization activities of isolated strains were conducted. The strains with high activity were selected and identified by 16s rRNA sequencing. These strains were further studied for their substrate specificity by investigating the growth of the bacteria on various organosulfur compounds (i.e., BT, DBT, 3,4-benzoDBT, 4,6-DMDBT, methyl phenyl sulfide, phenyl sulfide and phenyl disulfide). Biodesulfurization of these substrates by growing and resting cells of the bacteria was also conducted. In addition, biodesulfurization of crude oil and hydrodesulfurized diesel oil by the selected strain was also investigated.
Twenty-five bacterial strains were isolated in this study. Among the isolates, 3 mesophilic strains (MS2, MS4 and R3) and 3 thermophilic strains (TS1, TO2 and TH3) were identified and selected for further studies. In Gibb’s assay, the results revealed that all the selected strains could not desulfurize DBT via the sulfur-specific pathway. Based on the data obtained from the substrate specificity experiments, the strain R3, Rhodococcus gordoniae, exhibited the broadest substrate specificity. In addition, biodesulfurization of DBT in model oil with a high cell density culture of the strain IGTS8 was investigated. It was found that the inhibition effect of sulfate on desulfurization activity of the bacterium was solved by using the dilution with separation unit