Broadening Enzyme Selectivity and Improving Activity for Biological Desulfurization and Upgrading of Petroleum Feedstock - Investigate and improve the desulfinase enzyme using directed evolution. The U.S. is the largest, most sophisticated producer of refined petroleum products the world, with 16.5 million barrels per day of crude distillation capacity. Revenues from petroleum and its products represent a significant portion of the U.S. gross domestic product. More than 107,000 people work in 152 refineries located in 32 states, and nearly 1 million Americans are employed by over 125,000 service stations across the nation, most of which are independently owned and operated. Severa key drivers are impacting the industry s competitive position, including continuing its commitment to safety and the environment, exploiting changing markets and demand, responding to competitive forces, improving processes, and increasing the efficiency of energy use and energy products.
Petroleum refining is unique among manufacturing industries from an energy stand-point.
It is the country s single largest source of energy products, supplying 40 percent of total U.S. energy demand and 99 percent of transportation fuels. At the same time, it is also the largest industrial consumer, representing about 7 percent of total U.S. energy consumption. On average, every person in the U.S. consumes about 20 pounds of petroleum per day. The Fact Sheets listed below describe recent OIT downstream petroleum projects and are available for downloading. Fact Sheets are a brief description of a project that provide the reader with a means to quickly learn the basic technology of the research effort, its goals, partnering organizations and potential benefits to industry.