Microbial Deterioration of Hydrocarbon Fuels from Oil Shale, Coal and Petroleum. III. Inhibition of Fungi by Fuels from Coal

摘要

The anticipated future need for hydrocarbon fuels from sources other than petroleum has impelled a thorough evaluation of the properties of such fuels, including their susceptibility to microbial contamination. The present work confirmed an earlier finding that a JP-5 fuel derived from coal by the Char Oil Energy Development (COED) process was inhibitory to typical fungal contaminants and showed that the inhibition extended to fuels produced by solvent refining as well as to a variety of COED fuels refined in different ways. The inhibition was not due to lack of a suitable aliphatic carbon source. Extraction of COED JP-5 fuel with aqueous solutions showed that the inhibitor(s) had a very low water solubility and was not markedly concentrated at the water/fuel interface. An experiment with silica gel as adsorbent indicated that solid adsorbents may furnish a means of removing and concentrating sufficient amounts of the inhibitor for identification. Additional work to identify the source of the fungal inhibition in coal fuel is worthwhile not only because of the pronounced and selective effects produced but because a novel inhibitor may be found which would be useful as a fuel-compatible biocide for controlling microbial contamination in any stored hydrocarbon fuel. (Author)