Abstract
In this research, a biosurfactant-producing bacterium with capability of asphaltene degradation was isolated from oil-contaminated soil samples, and identified as Bacillus cereus. This strain produced an effective biosurfactant in the presence of molasses and the surface tension was reduced to the level of 36.4 mN/m after 48 h under optimum conditions. The optimum values of carbon-to-nitrogen ratio (C:N), pH, and temperature for biosurfactant production were determined as 30:1, 7.3 and 29 °C, respectively, using response surface methodology. The maximum emulsification activity in the culture broth was 53 % after 48 h using kerosene at 25 °C. The goodness of fit of four growth kinetic models including Tessier, Contois, Logistic and Westerhoff was compared for the bacterial growth and molasses utilization of B. cereus in 5-L batch bioreactor during 120 h. Conducted kinetic study showed that biosurfactant production had a good fit with the Contois growth kinetic model (R2 = 0.962) and the maximum specific growth rate (µ max ), saturation constant (K s ) and the yield of biomass per substrate (Y x/s ) were determined to be 0.145 h−1, 1.83 g/L and 0.428 g/g, respectively. The asphaltene biodegradation in flask was evaluated by FTIR analysis and quantified by a spectrophotometer. This bacterium was able to degrade up to 40 % of asphaltene as a sole carbon and energy source after 60 days at 28 °C. The resulting surface tension of 30.2 mN/m with the critical micelle concentration of 23.4 mg/L indicated good efficiency of the biosurfactant.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Gray R, Tykwinski RR, Stryker JM, Tan X (2011) Energy Fuel 25:3125–3134
Dechaine GP (2010) Solubility and diffusion of vanadium compounds and asphaltene aggregates. University of Alberta, Edmonton
Strausz OP, Torres M, Lown EM, Safarik I, Murgich J (2006) Energy Fuels 20:2013–2021
Mostowfi F, Indo K, Mullins OC, McFarlane R (2009) Energy Fuel 23:1194–1200
Wu J, Prausnitz MJ, Firoozabadi A (2000) AIChE J 46:197–206
Hong E, Watkinson PA (2004) Fuel 83:1881–1887
Jahromi H, Fazaelipoor MH, Ayatollahi S, Niazi A (2014) Fuel 117:230–235
Pineda Flores G, Boll-Arguello G, Mestahoward A (2004) J Biodegr 15:145–151
Ogbo EM, Okhuoya JA (2008) Afr J Biotechnol 7:4291–4297
Salehizadeh H, Mohammadizad S (2009) Iran J Biotechnol 7:216–223
Sen R (2008) Prog Energy Combust Sci 34:714–724
Geys R, Soetaert W, Van Bogaert I (2014) Curr Opin Biotechnol 30:66–72
Jackson SA, Borchert E, O’Gara F, Dobson ADW (2015) Curr Opin Biotechnol 33:176–182
Gautam KK, Tyagi VK (2006) J Oleo Sci 55:155–166
Lawniczak L, Marecik R, Chrzanowski L (2013) Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 97:2327–2339
Pastewski S, Hallmann E, Medrzycka K (2006) Eng Sci 23:579–588
Marchant R, Banat IM (2012) Trends Biotechnol 30:558–565
Shete AM, Wadhawa G, Banat IM, Chopade BA (2006) J Sci Ind Res India 65:91–115
Batista SB, Mounteer AH, Amorim FR, Tótola MR (2006) Bioresour Technol 97:868–875
Viramontes-Ramos S, Portillo-Ruiz MC, Ballinas-Casarrubias ML, Torres-Muñoz JV, Rivera-Chavira BE, Nevárez-Moorillón JV (2010) Braz J Microbiol 41:668–675
Saharan BS, Sahu RK, Sharma D (2011) Gen Eng Biotechnol J 29:1–14
Chen J, Huang RT, Zhang KY, Ding FR (2012) Appl Microbiol 112:660–671
Pereira JFB, Gudia EJ, Costa R, Vitorino R, Teixeira JA, Coutinho JAP, Rodrigues LR (2013) Fuel 111:259–268
Mutalik SR, Vaidya BK, Joshi RM, Desai KM, Nene SN (2008) Bioresour Technol 99:7875–7880
Rodrigues R, Teixeira JA, Oliveira R, van der Mei HC (2006) Process Biochem 41:1–10
Rashedi H, Assadi MM, Jamshidi E, Bonakdarpour B (2006) Int J Environ Sci Technol 3:297–303
Najafi AR, Rahimpour MR, Jahanmiri AH, Roostaazad R, Arabian DD, Soleimani M, Jamshidnejad Z (2011) Colloids Surf B 82:33–39
Tavasoli TT, Mousavi M, Shojaosadati A, Salehizadeh H (2012) Fuel 93:142–148
Velázquez-Aradillas JC, Toribio-Jiménez J, González-Chávez MD, Bautista F, Cebrián ME, Esparza-Garcia FJ, Rodríguez-Vázquez R (2011) J Microbiol Biotechnol 27:907–913
Hsueh YH, Didier EB, Lereclus E, Ghelardi A, Lee Wong C (2007) Appl Environ Microbiol 73:7225–7231
Sneath PHA, Mair NS, Sharpe ME, Holt JG (1986) Bergey’s manual of systematic bacteriology, vol 2. Williams and Wilkins, Baltimore
Weisburg WG, Barns SM, Pelletier DA, Lane DJ (1991) J Bacterial 173:697–703
DeSantis TZ, Dubosarskiy I, Murray SR, Andersen GL (2003) Bioinformatics 19:1461–1468
Ghojavand H, Vahabzadeh F, Mehranian M, Radmehr M, Shahraki KH, Zolfagharian F, Emadi MA, Roayaei E (2008) Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 80:1073–1085
Pornsunthorntawee O, Arttaweeporn N, Paisanjit S, Somboonthanate P, Abe M, Rujiravanit R, Chavadej S (2008) Biochem Eng J 42:172–179
Cooper DG, Goldenberg BG (1987) Appl Environmen Microbiol 53:224–229
Desai J, Banat IM (1997) Microbiol Mol Biol Rev 61:47–58
Abbasi H, Hamedi MM, Bagheri Lotfabad T, Shahbani Zahiri H, Sharafi H, Masoomi F, Moosavi-Movahedi AA, Ortiz A, Amanlou M, Akbari Noghabi K (2012) Biosci Bioeng 113:211–219
Rodrigues L, Moldes A, Teixeira J, Oliveira R (2006) Biochem Eng J 28:109–116
Dubois M, Gilles KA, Hamilton JK, Smith F, Rebers PA (1956) Anal Chem 28:350–356
Lowry OH, Rosebrough NJ, Farr AL, Randall RJ (1951) Biol Chem 193:265–275
Folch J, Lees M, Stanley GH (1957) Biol Chem 226:497–509
Rittman RE, McCarty PL (2001) Environmental biotechnology: principles and applications. Mc-Graw Hill, New York
Simkins S, Alexander M (1984) Appl Environ Microbiol 47:1299–1306
Joshi S, Bharucha C, Jha S, Yadav S, Nerurkar A, Desai AJ (2008) Bioresour Technol 99:195–199
Henzler HJ, Schedel M (1991) Bioproc Eng 7:123–131
Lin SC, Sharma MM, Georgiou G (1993) Biotechnol Prog 9:138–145
Rosen M (1989) Surfactants and interfacial phenomena. Wiley Interscience, New York
Adamczak M, Bednarski W (2000) Biotechnol Lett 22:313–316
Siegmund I, Wagner F (1991) Biotechnol Technol 5:265–268
Babu BV, Chakole PG, Seyed Mubeen JH (2005) Chem Eng Sci 60:4822–4837
Babu BV, Angira R (2006) Comp. Chem. Eng. 30:989–1002
Acknowledgments
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the NSERC Discovery grant. We are also thankful to Dr. Mohammad Ali Asdollahi for his assistance in this study.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Asadollahi, L., Salehizadeh, H. & Yan, N. Investigation of Biosurfactant Activity and Asphaltene Biodegradation by Bacillus cereus . J Polym Environ 24, 119–128 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10924-016-0754-y
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10924-016-0754-y