Production of Biosurfactant by Microorganisms in Bioreactor

Biosurfaactants are a group of surface active agents which are produced by microorganisms. In this research a bacterial species with the ability of producing biosurfactant was isolated from soil. The bacterium was able to grow on gas oil as the sole source of carbon and energy. Concentrations of gas oil up to about two percent were not detrimental to the bacterial activity. The excess gas oil in the fermentation medium served as an exteractant for the biosurfactant. Separation of the organic phase from the aqueous phase and evaporation of the gas oil resulted in a powder of crude biosurfactant. Each liter of the fermentation medium gave about 2.8 grams crude biosurfactant. The critical micelle concentration of the powder was 100 mg/L. The biosurfactant reduced the surface tension of distilled water to 26mN/m.

کلیدواژه ها:

biosurfactant ، critical micelle concentration ، microbial