The Isolation Desulfurizing Native Thermophilic Bacteria Bacillus thermoamylovorance and Optimization Culture Medium

In bio-desulfurization (BDS) process, microorganisms are used for fossil fuel sulfur elimination. The goal of this project is the isolation of thermophilic microorganisms which are able to support bio-desulfurization activity from DBT as the sole sulfur source and to find an optimized media culture for growth and bio-desulfurization activity. To identify the cell growth and bio-desulfurization activity, Basal Salt Medium containing DBT has been used. For optimization of the culture medium, different carbon and nitrogen sources and also different concentrations of sulfur source were used. Moreover, the findings illustrate that the maximal cell growth was achieved after 96 h incubation. In addition, the Gibbs results have shown that this strain eliminates the sulfur in DBT by 4S pathway and 2-hydroxybiphenyl, as the end product of the desulfurization process has been produced at the maximal concentration (26.1 mg/L) at 72 h. Finally, the results of research illustrate that the isolated thermophilic strain is capable of eliminating sulfur in DBT, and this process may be improved by optimizing the culture media.