Microbial catalyst for desulfurization of fossil fuels

摘要

Sulfur is removed from fossil fuels containing sulfur by incubation of the fuel with microbes isolated and purified from soil or water that selectively extract the sulfur without apparently utilizing the fuel as a carbon or energy source. Preferred biodesulfurization microbes remove at least about 20% of the sulfur. The microbes are obtained in a multi-step screen that first selects microorganisms that utilize dibenzothiophene (DBT) as a sole source of sulfur, and then tests these in incubations with fossil fuels; organisms that desulfurize DBT without metabolizing the DBT phenyl ring structures and desulfurize fuels only when a second carbon source devoid of sulfur is present are identified and employed in desulfurization processes. Two cultures, CDT-4 and CDT-4b, were particularly efficacious in the desulfurization of liquid fossil fuels.