Biosurfactant Production by Pseudomonas fluorescens Growing on Molasses and Its Application in Phenol Degradation

摘要

A molasses based medium for the biosurfactant production by Pseudomonas fluorescens was developed, where the effect of pre-treated of molasses and medium composition were evaluated. Biosurfactant production was followed by measuring optical density (OD), surface tension and emulsifying index (E24) over 12 days of fermentation. The optimum condition for the biosurfactant production was obtained when a medium containing of 8 g/L nutrient broth, 5 g/L NaCl, 1 g/L NH_4NO_3 and 5% v/v pre-treated molasses with centrifugation was used as media with 3 days of fermentation. The biosurfactant was identified as a rhamnolipid type biosurfactant which had critical micelle concentration (CMC) value of 801 mg/L and was able to reduce the surface tension of the water from 80 mN/m to 51 mN/m. The biosurfactants had water in oil (w/o) emulsion type. Biosurfactant was able to emulsify various hydrocarbons, which were able to decrase the interfacial tension about 50-75% when benzyl chloride, anisaldehyde and palm oil were used as immiscible compounds. The biosurfactant exhibited the E24 value of about 50% and the stable emulsion was reached up to 30 days when lubricant was used as an immiscible compound. Up to 68% of phenol was degraded in the presence of biosurfactant within 15 days, whereas only 56% of phenol was degraded in the absence of biosurfactant. Overall, the results exhibited that molasses are recommended for the rhamnolipids production which possessed good surface-active properties and had potential application in the enhancement of phenol degradation.