Potential Use of Nonionic Surfactants in the Biodesulfurization of bunker-C oil

摘要

For an efficient operation in biodesulfurization of petroleum and related fuels, the aqueous solubility of insoluble or very slightly soluble sulfur compounds contained in the petroleum products has to be increased. In this study, polyoxyethylene nonionic surfactants were used in order to enhance the aqueous solubility of insoluble or very slightly soluble sulfur compounds contained in the bunker-C oil and the solubilized sulfur contents in the aqueous surfactant solutions were measured by x-ray sulfur spectrophotometer.