Production, Characterization, and Application of Bacillus licheniformis W16 Biosurfactant in Enhancing Oil Recovery

Abstract

The biosurfactant production by Bacillus licheniformis W16 and evaluation of biosurfactant based enhanced oil recovery (EOR) using core-flood under reservoir conditions were investigated. Previously reported nine different production media were screened for biosurfactant production, and two were further optimized with different carbon sources (glucose, sucrose, starch, cane molasses, or date molasses), as well as the strain was screened for biosurfactant production during the growth in different media. The biosurfactant reduced the surface tension and interfacial tension to 24.33 ± 0.57 mN m−1 and 2.47 ± 0.32 mN m−1 respectively within 72 h, at 40°C, and also altered the wettability of a hydrophobic surface by changing the contact angle from 55.67 ± 1.6 to 19.54°± 0.96°. The critical micelle dilution values of 4X were observed. The biosurfactants were characterized by different analytical techniques and identified as lipopeptide, similar to lichenysin-A. The biosurfactant was stable over wide range of extreme environmental conditions. The core flood experiments showed that the biosurfactant was able to enhance the oil recovery by 24–26% over residual oil saturation (Sor). The results highlight the potential application of lipopeptide biosurfactant in wettability alteration and microbial EOR processes.

Production and Application of Biosurfactant Produced by Bacillus licheniformis Ali5 in Enhanced Oil Recovery and Motor Oil Removal from Contaminated Sand

“…Hence, it may be conluded that the strain B. licheniformis Ali5 did not produce biopolymer but produced only biosurfactant. The viscosity of some biopolymers was studied and found to be around 43-21,535 cP [23]. These results are in accordance with some of the previously reported bacillus species [24][25][26].…”

“…Band characteristics of the peptides were at 3323 cm −1 (NH stretching mode), and at 1629 cm −1 (stretching mode of CO-N bond); while the bands at 2957-2926, 2854, 1403, 1377 cm −1 reflected the aliphatic chains (-CH3, -CH2-) of the fractions, as described in Joshi et al [28]. It is concluded from the results that the biosurfactant is a cyclic lipopeptide, the infrared spectrum produced is quite similar to bacilli produced Surfactin and Lichenysin as reported previously [3,23].…”

“…The results obtained for contact angle measurements are shown in (Figure 4a,b) the contact angle was reduced from 49.76 ± 1.4 • of un-inoculated media to 16.97 ± 0.84 • in cell-free supernatant. Joshi et al [23] obtained results for un-inoculated media and cell-free supernatant from 55.67 ± 1.6 • to 19.54 ± 0.7 • respectively. Al-Wahaibi et al [26] found the contact angle alteration from 70.6 ± 0.3 • to 27.4 ± 1.03 • using biosurfactant from B. subtilis B30.…”

“…The results of the analysis of B. licheniformis Ali5 produced biosurfactant indicated that the main fractions contain lipids and peptide moieties, which have similarities to lichenysin-A and their homologs. Previous studies [23,35,36] authenticated the biosurfactant from B. licheniformis as cyclic heptalipopeptide, having a small peptide chain (Gln, Leu, Val, Asp, lle) that linked to 3-3-hydroxylated tri, tetra and pentadeconoic acids.…”

Effects of Different Cultivation Parameters on the Production of Surfactin Variants by a Bacillus subtilis Strain

“…On this solid support, the secreted bacterial proteases could pre-hydrolyze the okara proteins, stimulating the lipopeptide biosynthesis [ 29 ]. Related to the lipopeptide amounts, it was also observed that isolate B. licheniformis W16 showed the highest biosurfactant activities, using either glucose or cane molasses as a carbon source [ 30 ].…”