Investigating the Kinetics of Biodesulfurization of Diesel

Abstract

The technology of biodesulfurization requires that reactors, where the reaction can take place, must be designed. In order to do this, the kinetics of the process must be thoroughly understood. This work aims to investigate the kinetics of biodesulfurization of diesel. This was done by simulating the kinetics of the process alone and then with and without the effect of mass transfer. The kinetic parameters, maximum rate constant, νmax, and the Michaelis-Menton constant, KM, were estimated using the linear equations of Hanes, Lineweaver-Buck and Eadie-Hofstee. The values obtained for each of the parameters from the linear equations were close but are not the same. This necessitated the need to carry out a non-linear regression analysis on the substrate concentrationtime data. The analysis was done using Marquardt’s algorithm of non-linear regression analysis. The obtained results were then compared with experimental data, they both showed good correlation with the experimental data although the mass transfer influenced kinetics showed a better agreement with the experimental data. Based on the aforementioned findings, one may conclude that mass transfer played an important role in the kinetics of biodesulfurization of diesel.