Bioconversão do glicerol para produção de biossurfactantes: aplicação no preparo de emulsões

Abstract

Biosurfactants are amphipathic molecules, which possess in their chemical structure hydrophobic and hydrophilic segments, separated spatially, that favor the formation of emulsions and improve the availability of compounds to microbial cell. Given these characteristics, emulsifiers reduce surface tension at the interface of immiscible phases, thereby allowing them to blend in, forming an emulsion. Thus, this study was divided into six stages: the first stage aimed at studying the biosurfactant producers using glycerol, a co-product of biodiesel production from soybean oil, the commercial strain of Bacillus subtilis ATCC 6633, a known biosurfactant-producing was selected due their ability to synthesize biosurfactants from different carbon sources; the second stage aimed at studying the potential of Bacillus sp. strains, isolated from the tank of chlorination, at the Wastewater Treatment Plant on the “Campus do Pici” (WWTP-PICI), at the Federal University of Ceará, in producing biosurfactants; the third step was to experimentally evaluate and optimize the production of biosurfactant in shaker, using the strains selected during the screening; the fourth step was the process by using a 4 L batch bioreactor; the fifth step was to characterize the biosurfactant produced by determining the functional groups through studies of conformation and structure of compounds; and the sixth, to study the emulsifying power of the biosurfactant produced by the construction of phase diagrams for a subsequent application of the surfactant. Initially, a biosurfactant-producing strain of Bacillus subtilis (ATCC 6633) was cultived in a culture medium containing glycerin, a residue of the biodiesel industry, as carbon and energy source, in order to evaluate the viability of this raw material in the synthesis of biosurfactants. A maximum concentration of surfactin of 158.14 mg. L-1 was achieved. Next, a screening with seven strains of Bacillus sp. was performed aiming to study growth and biosurfactant production from glycerin. Only two strains (LAMI005 and LAMI009) were selected through two indirect methods, surface tension reduction and the ability to emulsify three hydrophobic sources (kerosene, soybean oil and n-hexadecane). Kinetics of growth and biosurfactant production was evaluated for the selected strains and best results in Erlenmeyer flasks was achieved with Bacillus subtilis LAMI005, 441.06 mg.L-1 of surfactin concentration and the surface tension remained stable in the range of 28.8 ± 0.05 mN.m-1 with a critical micelle concentration (CMC) of 19.8 mg.L-1. Later, tests were conducted in 4L bioreactor, but the concentration of surfactin obtained during grothw in shaker flasks were not achieved probably due to different aeration condition. The surfactin produced in bioreactor was subjected to analysis of the vibrational spectroscopy of Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), the spectra confirmed that the biosurfactant produced had similar characteristics to a standard of surfactin from Sigma. The behavior of phase diagrams showed the potential of the biosurfactant produced for emulsification, which is very encouraging regarding the possibility of biosurfactant applications in many industrial sectors.