Biodesulfurization of model oil using growing cells of Gordonia sp. SC-10

The biodesulfurization capacity of Gordonia sp. SC-10 in a biphasic reaction system was investigated in this study. Model oil containing dibenzothiophene was used as the sole sulfur source of bacterium. The results showed that 81.43% of the sulfur in model oil with initial sulfur content of 174 mg/l could be removed within 5 days. Gordonia sp. SC-10 had high desulfurization rate for model oils with low sulfur contents, which would reduce sulfur concentration to below 5 mg/l. Biodesulfurization process might be a potential method to obtain fuels with ultra-low sulfur contents.