Stability and emulsifying capacity of biosurfactants obtained from lignocellulosic sources using Lactobacillus...

Lactobacillus pentosus grown on sugars from agricultural residues produces biosurfactants with emulsifying properties that could facilitate the bioremediation of hydrocarbon contaminated sites. The biosurfactans obtained after growing L. pentosus cells on distilled grape marc hydrolyzates gave values of relative emulsion volume (EV) close to 50%, being stable after 72 h when gasoline or kerosene were employed. These EV values were higher than those achieved using commercial surfactin (14.1% for gasoline and 27.2% for kerosene). Moreover, assays carried out with kerosene showed that L. pentosus produced biosurfactants from distilled grape marc hydrolyzates with the highest stabilizing capacity value (ES) to maintain the emulsion (99%) followed by biosurfactants produced from hazelnut shell hydrolyzates (97%). These data are comparable with those obtained using sodium dodecyl sulfate, SDS (87.7%), whereas surfactin only gave an ES value of 65.4%. Consequently, this work shows that utilization of low-cost feedstock agricultural residues as substrates for producing biosurfactants/bioemulsifiers is possible thus removing obstacles for the wide-scale industrial application of biosurfactants/bioemulsifiers.