Production and properties of a biosurfactant synthesized byArthrobacter protophormiae — an antarctic strain

Abstract

This study reports the production of biosurfactant by a psychrophilic strain ofArthrobacter protophormiae during growth on an immiscible carbon source, w-hexadecane. The biosurfactant reduces the surface tension of the medium from 68.0 mN/m to 30.60 mN/m and exhibits good emulsification activity. The strain could grow and produce biosurfactant in the presence of high NaCl concentrations (10.0 to 100.0 g/1). Although the biosurfactant was isolated by growing the organism under psychrophilic conditions (10‡C) it exhibited stable activity over a wide range of temperature (30‡C to 100‡C). It retained its surface-active properties at p^H2 to 12. The biosurfactant was effective in recovering up to 90% of residual oil from an oil saturated sandpack column, indicating its potential value in enhanced oil recovery.