SBIR Phase I: Enhanced Desulfurization of Gasoline

这个小企业创新研究第一阶段项目将促进汽油和柴油燃料生物脱硫（BDS）的发展。最近的国内和国际目标是将燃料中的铅含量降低到100 ppm以下（目前的规定是300 ppm以上）。传统的加氢脱硫（HDS）是昂贵的，并且在这些低浓度的硫下效果差。在这个项目中，我们将开发稳定的非润湿膜接触器，以提供无泡氧气输送，从而为汽油和其他燃料的BDS培养细菌。提供不可燃的氧气输送是汽油基BDS商业开发的主要障碍。目前的氧气输送技术将氧气气泡引入燃料，但我们的膜被假设为将氧气直接溶解到液体中。此外，与传统的微孔膜不同，我们的膜不会随着时间的推移而变湿。这项新技术如果成功，将有助于使BDS成为HDS的可行商业替代品，使汽油生产商能够以低成本高质量的工艺进一步降低硫含量。在第一阶段，我们将演示使用二苯并噻吩作为替代燃料的过程。我们将测量氧转移率和硫转化率。经济分析和耐久性测试将验证该工艺的潜力。

This Small Business Innovative Research Phase I project will facilitate the development of gasoline and diesel fuel biodesulfurization (BDS). Recent domestic and international targets have been set to reduce the leads in fuel to less than 100 ppm (present regulations are over 300 ppm). Conventional hydrodesulfurization (HDS) is costly and works poorly at these low concentrations of sulfur. In this program we will develop stable non-wetting membrane contactors to provide bubbleless oxygen delivery to grow bacteria for BDS of gasoline and other fuels. Providing non-flammable oxygen delivery is major obstacle to commercial development of gasoline based BDS. Present oxygen delivery technologies introduce oxygen bubbles to fuel, but our membrane is hypothesized to dissolve oxygen directly into liquid. Also, unlike conventional microporous membranes,our membranes should not wet out over time. This new technology, if successful, should help make BDS viable commercial alternative to HDS allowing gasoline producers to further reduce sulfur levels with low cost high quality process. In Phase I, we will demonstrate process using dibenzothiophene as surrogate fuel. We will measure rate of oxygen transfer and sulfur conversion. Economic analysis and durability testing will verify potential of process.