Beneficial Microbes: Food, Pharma, Aqua & Beverages Industry

Biography

Biography: Semiu Kareem

Abstract

About 90% of the hydrocarbons mined from the Earth are burnt for energy. Their combustion produces oxides of sulfur and nitrogen which are the principal source of acid rain. Most countries have imposed regulations to control their release. At the refineries, hydrodesulfurization (HDS) is currently performed to remove sulfur compounds from fossil fuels. This process is done at high temperatures and pressures by metal catalysis and is effective for removing inorganic sulfur and simple organic sulfur compounds. However, it is difficult to remove heterocyclic sulfur compounds. The high cost and inherent chemical limitations associated with HDS make alternatives to this technology of interest to the petroleum industry. Biodesulfurization which has two pathways, namely the sulfur-specific oxidative and the sulfur-specific reductive pathways has attracted attention as an alternative process to HDS, The sulfur-specific oxidative pathway has been extensively studied, There are very few reports on the desulfurization activity of sulfur reducing bacteria on DBT under well controlled sulfur-reducing anaerobic conditions. Desulfobacterium anilini was isolated by enrichment in an anaerobic jar and was subsequently identified after series of characteristic biochemical and morphological tests. Thereafter, its suitability for anaerobic desulfurization was investigated, it was found that it has great capability for that purpose, it remove over 80% of heterocyclic sulfur in both kerosene and diesel. The kinetics of the heterocyclic sulfur compounds in kerosene follows the zero order while the Michaelis Menten model described the kinetics observed in the removal of heterocyclic sulfur compounds in diesel. In view of the aforementioned, it is logical to conclude that Desulfobacterium anilini has a great benefit in the industry as a biocatalyst for heterocyclic sulfur compounds removal in real petroleum products.