Use of a greasy effluent floater treatment station from the slaughterhouse for biosurfactant production

Abstract

Most commercially available surfactants are produced from petroleum. However, increasing concerns about the environment have stimulated the search for biosurfactant production. This work examines biosurfactant production from the greasy effluent floater treatment station from the slaughterhouse of poultry and pigs. The biosurfactant production was evaluated using two strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa [American Type Culture Collection (ATCC) 9027 and 10145] in a kinetic study to determine which strain produces a higher rhamnolipid concentration, which is characterized by the rhamnose concentration. The strain of P. aeruginosa was selected via a central composite design based on the following variables: fat concentration, nitrogen concentration, added ammonium nitrate (AN), and brewery residual yeast (BRY). The preliminary results show that the P. aeruginosa strain ATCC 10145 produced biosurfactant more efficiently than ATCC 9027. After optimizing the variables that were studied, the best fat, BRY, and AN concentrations (in g/L) were found to be 12, 15, and 0, respectively.