Effect of the addition of microbial surfactants on hydrocarbon degradation in a soil population in a stirred reactor

Abstract

The hydrocarbon degradation rate could be doubled by the addition of sophorose lipids as biosurfactants in a model system containing 10% soil and a 1.35% hydrocarbon mixture of tetradecane, pentadecane, hexadecene, 1,2,4-trimethylcyclohexane, pristane (2,6,10,14-tetramethylpentadecane) phenyldecane and naphthalene suspended in mineral salts medium. The adaptation phases for two degradation phases were shortened, and the extent of degradation and final biomass were increased. The added biosurfactants were degraded after they had facilitated degradation of all hydrocarbon components.

The Potential of Bacterial Isolates for Emulsification with a Range of Hydrocarbons

“…Hydrocarbon contaminants may be nonavailable because of their hydrophobic nature and sorption to soil. Oberbremer et al (34) showed that both the rate and extent of hydrocarbon degradation in soil slurry were enhanced by biosurfactants.…”

Microbial Bioremediation of Fuel Oil Hydrocarbons in Marine Environment

“…It is reported that hydrocarbon internalisation is mediated by the formation of microemulsion, presumably by lowering interfacial tension 59 . Although, literature on the effect of surfactant on oil utilisation ability shows varying results, majority of reports indicate its important role in effective dispersion and degradation of pollutant oil in marine environment [60][61][62][63] .…”

Federal Integrated Biotreatment Research Consortium (FIBRC): Flask to Field Initiative

“…Microbes produce surface-active agents,biosurfactants, when grown on insoluble or immiscible compounds (Desai and Banat, 1997;Lin, 1996;Neu, 1996). The use of biosurfactants has been proposed as an alternative to chemical surfactants to enhance the bioavailability of hydrophobic contaminants (Hunt et al, 1994;Oberbremer et al, 1990). Biosurfactants are a structurally diverse group of surface-active agents.…”