Universidade Federal do Ceará
PPGEQ – Programa de Pós-graduação em Engenharia Química

Biosurfactants are natural amphipathic molecules thus they can reduce the surface and interfacial tensions. They are produced by a variety of microorganisms, mostly by bacteria and yeasts. The aim of this study was to evaluate the biosurfactant production from the submerged fermentation process by Aureobasidium thailandense, isolated from Cashew stalk (Anacardium occidentale L.) using organic residues as carbon and nitrogen source. The first experiments were conducted in order to select the sources of nutrients from the following sources: molasses, waste water from the production of olive oil (olive mill wastewater – OMW), glucose, yeast extract and corn steep liquor (CSL). The study conducted using a fractional factorial 23-1 to analyze the effect of nitrogen sources (yeast extract and corn steep liquor) and olive mill wastewater concentrations in the medium. CSL obtained negative effect on the production of the biosurfactant. A central composite rotated design (CCRD – 22) including 4 trials in the axial conditions and three repetitions at the central point, was performed to optimize the yeast extract and olive mill wastewater concentration. The real values obtained from fermentation using the concentrations of 2 g/L of yeast extract, 1.5% (v/v) of OMW, 6 g/L of glucose and 1 g/L of KH2PO4 were 27 ± 2 5 mN/m and 28 ± 2.6 mN/m at 24 and 48 h, respectively. The maximum reduction in surface tension values of the fermentation broth generated were estimated at 27 mN/m (24 hours) and 28.2 mN/m (48 hours).The biosurfactant produced by A. thailandense showed a critical micelar concentration (CMC) of 550 mg/L, reducing the water surface tension from 72 ± 0.8 mN/m to 33 mN/m. The structure of the molecule represents CH3 – (CH2)10 –, where its ester portion has not yet been identified. The emulsifying ability was verified comparing the produced surfactant against the synthetic surfactant SDS (E24 = 57 ± 0.57%) at 10 mg/mL. It was obtained a E24 = 49 ± 0.4%. The surfactant produced by A. thailandense caused a 86% dispersion of crude oil in plate and its action after 24 hours remained stable, SDS surfactant showed no dispersion in the same time interval.