KINETICS OF BIODESULFURIZATION OF DIESEL USING IMMOBILIZED CELLS
Today, as a result of sulphur compound pollutants emanating from combustion of fuel containing sulphur, the environmental protection agencies have imposed stringent limits for sulphur levels in fuel. The current industrial method for removal of sulphur from fuels is hydro desulfurization (HDS), which is costly and energy-intensive for deep desulfurization. Furthermore, some sulphur compound are resistance to HDS process, thus biodesulfurization (BDS), which operates under ambient temperature and pressure, is expected to be a complement and a promising alternative to HDS. In this study, the bacterium Pseudomonas stutzeri was isolated and immobilized on sodium alginate and subsequently used to desulfurize diesel. The desulfurization was modeled and the obtained simulated results were compared to the experimental ones. Kinetics parameters such as maximum rate constant (k1), Mechaelis-Menten constant (Km), absorption constant (n) and mass transfer co-efficient (kL), were determined experimentally. It was observed from the biodesulphurization of diesel that there is high desulfurization affinity of benzothiophene, BT compared with dibenzothiophene, DBT. The DBT was desulfurized from 161.02 mg/L to 22.45 mg/L (86%), and theoretically from161.02 mg/L to 29.27 mg/L while BT from 9.57 mg/L to 1.72 mg/L (82%), and theoretically from 9.57 mg/L to 2.34 mg/L. The equation obtained from the model development shows better agreement with the desulfurization of DBT than BT.
Authors : Chiroma T. M., Kareem S. A., Hayatuddeen A. 1, Sokwa T.
Category : Open Access Volume (Issue) : 6(2) Date Uploaded : 12th March 2021