Produção de biossurfactantes utilizando melaço de soja

Abstract

Biosurfactants has excelled in the past years when compared to chemical surfactants due to its advantages related to environmental and toxicity. Some of the benefits of the biosurfactants is that it can be produced from agroindustrial product co and is biodegradable. The soy molasses is a product co generated during soybean processing that has high production and low commercial value. Its use has great potential in fermentative processes due to the high concentration of carbohydrates, lipids and proteins. This study investigated the use of Pseudomonas aeruginosa to produce biosurfactants in a soy molasses-based fermentation medium. Preliminary tests were performed to determine the best conditions of production. In these tests the bacterial cultures analyzed were: Pseudomonas aeruginosa 9027, Pseudomonas aeruginosa 10145 and Pseudomonas aeruginosa from Landfarming. Among them, with the best results was Pseudomonas aeruginosa 10145. In relation to the soy molasses-based fermentation medium three concentrations were tested (50,100 and 250 g/L) and for the factors that influences the most on the evaluation of the efficiency of a surfactant (emulsifying and surface tension index) the best results were obtained for the concentrations of 50 and 100 g/L. In addition, the pH was adjusted to 7.0. After determining the best conditions it was developed a Central Composite Design (CCD) with two variables and three replicates at the central point to optimize the production of biosurfactant. The concentration of soy molasses has values between 29.3 and 170.7 g/L and the initial concentration of microorganism varies between 0.2 and 5.8 g/L. All the experiments were performed in duplicate on a shaker table to 30.0 ± 1.0 °C and 120 rpm during 72 hours with samples taken every 12 hours. Thus, to validate the experiments were used the values of 120 g/L for the initial concentration of soy molasses and 4 g/L for the initial concentration of microorganisms. In response the following values were obtained at 48 hours of fermentation: surface tension of 31.9 mN/m, emulsification rate of 97.4%, biomass concentration of 11.5 g/L, rhamnose concentration of 6.9 g/L and concentration of biosurfactant of 11.7 g/L. Further analysis was carried out for critical micelle concentration (CMC) in which it was obtained approximately 80 mg/L. These values show a great potential for biosurfactant production using soybean molasses as substrate and the bacteria of the genus Pseudomonas aeruginosa.