Microbial upgrading of Stuart shale oil: removal of heterocyclic nitrogen compounds

✍ Scribed by Jacqueline Aislabie; Ronald M. Atlas

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1990
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 454 KB
• Volume: 69
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0016-2361
• DOI: 10.1016/0016-2361(90)90074-z

✦ Synopsis

For relining into useful fuels, most shale oils must be upgraded to reduce their nitrogen contents. Microbial cultures were established that could selectively remove heterocyclic nitrogen compounds from raw shale oil. Each culture was highly specific with regard to the compounds it could attack. Quinoline, methylquinolines, and isoquinoline could be removed from the heterocyclic nitrogen fraction of the shale oil. The microbes removed the heterocyclic nitrogen compounds without attacking the aromatic or aliphatic hydrocarbons. The selectivity of the organisms for the compounds within the shale oil means that in all likelihood multiple or genetically engineered organisms will be needed to achieve a significant reduction of the nitrogen content of the oil. It also suggests that even complex heterocyclic nitrogen components of shale oils can be removed in a biotechnological process without simultaneously degrading the valued _ hydrocarbons in the oil.