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Synthesis and Characterization of Rhamnolipid Biosurfactant Produced by Pseudomonas aeruginosa PTCC 1340 for Emulsification of Oil Sludge in Oil Storage Tank

  • Research Article-Biological Sciences
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Abstract

Accumulation of oily sludge in the petroleum industry causes various environmental problems. In this research, a biosurfactant obtained by Pseudomonas aeruginosa PTCC 1340 was characterized. The biosurfactant can reduce the surface tension and promote the formation of oil/water emulsions facilitating oily sludge removal. For biosurfactant production, sunflower oil as a carbon source was used. Glycerol was also used as a comparative carbon source. The use of sunflower oil as a carbon source for biosurfactant production showed higher rhamnolipid production, expressed by rhamnose (2.09 g/L). The yields of rhamnolipid per sunflower oil (YRL/S) and rhamnolipid per biomass (YRL/X) in shake flask were 0.14 and 2.63 g/g, respectively. After 5 d of incubation, the rhamnolipid reduced the surface tension of cell-free broth from 70 to 26.8 mN/m. The critical micelle concentration was 0.123 g/L. The usage of the small volume of cell-free culture broth to remove sticky oily sludge may be an environmentally friendly and cost-efficient usable technology. Cell-free broth containing biosurfactant was able to produce high emulsification index (EI24) values for oily sludge (66 to 99%). The process proved to be highly effective for the removal of sticky oily sludge from oil-contaminated vessels and resulted in a 100% reduction in sludge volume.

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Acknowledgements

Authors are pleased to acknowledge Babol Noshirvani University of Technology, Faculty of Chemical Engineering, for funding the project (No. BNUT/944150029/2016). Special thanks go to Shokufeh Malek Mahmoudi for her kindly assistant to provide the strain P. aeruginosa PTCC 1340 and also to Dr. Hossein Amani for his guidance and support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Babol Noshirvani University of Technology, Babol, Iran

    Monire Ghorbani, Morteza Hosseini & Ghasem Najafpour

  2. Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Islamic Azad University, Ahar, Iran

    Reza Hajimohammadi

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  1. Monire Ghorbani
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  2. Morteza Hosseini
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  4. Reza Hajimohammadi
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Correspondence to Morteza Hosseini.

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Ghorbani, M., Hosseini, M., Najafpour, G. et al. Synthesis and Characterization of Rhamnolipid Biosurfactant Produced by Pseudomonas aeruginosa PTCC 1340 for Emulsification of Oil Sludge in Oil Storage Tank. Arab J Sci Eng 47, 219–226 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13369-021-05872-5

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