Análise da hidrofobicidade celular e caracterização do biossurfactante produzido pela levedura Rhodotorula mucilaginosa e análise dos parâmetros cinéticos de crescimento e produção

Abstract

Biosurfactants are amphipathic molecules obtained through the secondary metabolism of certain microorganisms, and compared to chemical surfactants currently used, they have low toxicity, high stability in extreme environments (pH, temperature and salinity) and are biodegradable. The major problem for the use of biosurfactants is their high production cost, which ends up making it difficult to apply them in different areas of the industry. In this present work, agro-industrial residues of pineapple (Ananas comusus), such as leaves and bark, were used as a carbon source in order to reduce the production cost of this biomolecule. The yeast used for the production of the biosurfactant was the yeast Rhodotorula mucilaginosa CRM 747, which was isolated from the Antarctic environment and presented favorable growth and production conditions in this work. The results of analysis of cellular growth, production and hydrophobicity showed that the maximum peak for the production of bissurfactants by the yeast Rhodotorula mucilaginosa is found in the period of 16 hours of fermentation with supplementation with pineapple residue after 10 hours of the beginning of the experiment, in which productivity increased from 21.2 gL-1 to 36 gL-1. Regarding cellular hydrophobicity, the yeast showed rates above 70% only in soybean oil.