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

Molecules. 2019 Dec 4;24(24):4448. doi: 10.3390/molecules24244448.

Abstract

The present study describes the production of biosurfactant from isolate B. licheniformis Ali5. Seven different, previously-reported minimal media were screened for biosurfactant production, and two selected media were further optimized for carbon source. Further, various fermentation conditions such as (pH 2-12, temperature 20-50 °C, agitation speed 100-300 rpm, NaCl (0-30 g·L-1) were investigated. The partially purified biosurfactant was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectroscopy (MALDI-TOF MS) and found a lipopeptide mixture, similar to lichenysin-A. Biosurfactant reduced surface tension from 72.0 to 26.21 ± 0.3 and interfacial tension by 0.26 ± 0.1 mN.m-1 respectively, biosurfactant yield under optimized conditions was 1 g·L-1, with critical micelle concentration (CMC) of 21 mg·L-1 with high emulsification activity of (E24) 66.4 ± 1.4% against crude oil. Biosurfactant was found to be stable over extreme conditions. It also altered the wettability of hydrophobic surface by changing the contact angle from 49.76° to 16.97°. Biosurfactant efficiently removed (70-79%) motor oil from sand, with an efficiency of more than 2 fold as compared without biosurfactant (36-38%). It gave 32% additional oil recovery over residual oil saturation upon application to a sand-packed column. These results are indicative of potential application of biosurfactant in wettability alteration and ex-situ microbial enhanced oil recovery.

Keywords: interfacial tension; lipopeptide biosurfactant; sand packed column; surface tension; wettability alteration.

MeSH terms

  • Bacillus licheniformis / chemistry*
  • Bacillus licheniformis / growth & development
  • Carbon / analysis
  • Emulsions / chemistry
  • Environmental Pollution / analysis*
  • Hydrocarbons / isolation & purification
  • Hydrogen-Ion Concentration
  • Micelles
  • Petroleum / analysis*
  • Phylogeny
  • Salinity
  • Sand / chemistry*
  • Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared
  • Surface Tension
  • Surface-Active Agents / chemistry*
  • Temperature
  • Wettability

Substances

  • Emulsions
  • Hydrocarbons
  • Micelles
  • Petroleum
  • Sand
  • Surface-Active Agents
  • Carbon