Bacterial Biosurfactant Production From Biomass-Derived Sugars Aiming Bioremediation of Marine Ecosystems Contaminated by Hydrocarbons

BACTERIAL BIOSURFACTANT PRODUCTION FROM BIOMASS-DERIVED SUGARS AIMING BIOREMEDIATION OF MARINE ECOSYSTEMS CONTAMINATED BY HYDROCARBONS

I. W. L de FRANÇA, D. W. F. de OLIVEIRA, V. M. M. MELO, H. B. DE SANT'ANA, L. R. B. GONÇALVES

Biosurfactants have become recently an important product of biotechnology for industrial applications. Surface-active compounds of biological origin (biosurfactants) have been gaining attention in recent years because of some advantages such as biodegradability, low toxicity, diversity of applications and functionality under extreme conditions. Nowadays, there’s a high dependence on petroleum and its derivates, but the dependence is accompanied by risks, since the constituents of this oil are highly polluting organic compounds that can cause serious damages to the environment during its production process, refining, transportation and storage and distribution. There are risks involved in accidental spills, which might be minimized but not totally eliminated. An alternative and eco-friendly method of remediation technology of environments contaminated with these pollutants is the use of biosurfactants and biosurfactant-producing microorganisms. Bacillus subtilis LAMI005 isolated from the tank of Chlorination at the Wastewater Treatment Plant on Campus do Pici in Federal University of Ceará, Brazil, is a promising biosurfactant producer, which uses glucose and fructose as carbon source, main sugars present in cashew apple juice. In previous works of our research group, the production of surfactin was around 250 mg.L^-1, which promoted the reduction of surface tension of water from 72 to 28 dyna.cm^-1 and its CMC was close to 14 mg.L^-1, showing the efficiency of the biosurfactant produced. Experiments have shown that the biosurfactant produced by Bacilus subtilis LAMI005 could be applied in bioremediation of marine ecosystems, since it was stable at high concentrations of NaCl and has contributed to degradation of hydrocarbons, such as petroleum, motor oil, gasoline and hexane.