Abstract
Ethanol, added as a de-emulsifier to separate oil and biocatalyst (or bacterial cells) from a three-phase (oil/biocatalyst/aqueous phase) emulsion, formed in diesel biodesulfurization employing Gordonia nitida, improved oil recovery by centrifugation from about 50% in its absence to almost 100% at 3% (v/v). The biocatalyst recovered with ethanol addition showed similar specific growth rates (0.03 h-1) and dibenzothiophene desulfurization rates (6-7.2 mol 1-1 h-1) to those (0.03 h-1 and 7.1 mol 1-1, respectively) of the biocatalyst recovered with no ethanol addition. The desulfurization activity significantly increased as the number of the repeated recovery and reuse of the biocatalyst.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 73-77 |
Number of pages | 5 |
Journal | Biotechnology Letters |
Volume | 25 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jan 2003 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This work was supported by Clean Energy Program Grant, Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Resources, and R&D Management Center for Energy and Resources, Korea.
Keywords
- Biodesulfurization
- De-emulsifiers
- Gordonia nitida
- Phase separation