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Updated: Apr 6, 2026

Enhanced Oil Recovery using a Combination of Biosurfactants
Published on: June 3, 2022
Extracellular aromatic biosurfactant produced by Tsukamurella pseudospumae and T. spumae during growth on
Johannes H Kügler1, Axel Kraft1, Stefan Heißler2
1Institute of Process Engineering in Life Sciences, Section II: Technical Biology, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Engler-Bunte Ring 1, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany.
Abstract:
Biosurfactants are surface-active agents produced by microorganisms and show increasing significance in various industrial applications. A great variety of these secondary metabolites are described to occur within actinomycetes, amongst trehalose lipids and oligosaccharide lipids produced by the family Tsukamurellaceae. This study reports on the production of not yet described compounds with surface active behavior by non-pathogenic Tsukamurella pseudospumae and Tsukamurella spumae during growth on hydrophobic carbon sources. Extracts of the purified compounds differ in terms of structure and performance properties to other biosurfactants described within their family. Infrared and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopic analysis revealed the presence of aromatic moieties within the surfactant produced, which to date is only known to occur within phenolic glycolipids of some mycobateria.
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