ABSTRACT
Although it is widely studied as a promising bio-surfactant,biosynthesis of Rhamnolipid has not been applied in large-scale due to its high production cost.As a cheap alternative carbon source,waste edible oils have been extensively studied for the production of rhamnolipid.This paper reviewed the recent re-search in this field,including the influence of various waste edible oils and production,chemical structure and properties of the produced rhamnolipids.With waste edible oils,the maximum production of rham-nolipids was reported to be 24.61 g/L.The lowest surface tension was 24 mN/m and the lowest CMC of the produced rhamnolipids was 40.19 mg/L.In addition,this paper also summarized the effect of various factors on the rhamnolipids biosynthesis,such as bacteria strains,nitrogen sources,trace minerals,dissolved oxygen,pH and fermentation conditions.Based on this,the key points of the mass production of rhamnolipids with waste edible oils were also discussed.
ABSTRACT
Four screening methods, colorimetric assay, blood-plate hemolysis method, surface tension activ- ity and oil spreading technique were introduced to isolate strains producing bio-demulsifiers from 6 different bacteria source samples. The results of various screening methods were evaluated in this paper. Seventeen demulsifying strains were obtained, which are qualified in demulsification test of kerosene model emulsions. Among them, 5 strains showed high demulsifying ability, achieving 70% plus demulsifying ratio within 24 hours. Petroleum-contaminated soil, excess sludge from biological process treating oilfield produced water and sludge from municipal wastewater treatment plant were the best among all tested sources. Due to the determination limit, the colorimetric assay and blood-plate hemolysis method are not competent to screen bio-demulsifiers strains. The measurement of surface tension and oil spreading method were easy but accu- rate methods to isolate bio-demulsifiers strains. Although demulsification test of model emulsion is an effec- tive technique to target strains with the capability of breaking emulsions, it is sophisticated and time-con- suming. Thus it is recommended to use surface tension and oil spreading methods in pre-screening and vali- date the results in demulsification test with kerosene model emulsions.