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Improved biodesulfurization of hydrodesulfurized diesel oil using Rhodococcus erythropolis and Gordonia sp.

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Abstract

Substituted benzothiophenes (BTs) and dibenzothiophenes (DBTs) remain in diesel oil following conventional desulfurization by hydrodesulfurization. A mixture of washed cells (13.6 g dry cell wt l−1) of Rhodococcus erythropolis DS-3 and Gordonia sp. C-6 were employed to desulfurize hydrodesulfurized diesel oil; its sulfur content was reduced from 1.26 g l−1 to 180 mg l−1, approx 86% (w/w) of the total sulfur was removed from diesel oil after three cycles of biodesulfurization. The average desulfurization rate was 0.22 mg sulfur (g dry cell wt)−1 h−1. A bacterial mixture is therefore efficient for the practical biodesulfurization of diesel oil.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (No. 20060400689) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 50674058).

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Correspondence to Ting Ma.

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Li, GQ., Li, SS., Qu, SW. et al. Improved biodesulfurization of hydrodesulfurized diesel oil using Rhodococcus erythropolis and Gordonia sp.. Biotechnol Lett 30, 1759–1764 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-008-9748-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-008-9748-8

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