Bacterial aggregation assisted by anionic surfactant and calcium ions
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Updated: Oct 18, 2025

Enhanced Oil Recovery using a Combination of Biosurfactants
Published on: June 3, 2022
Narendra K Dewangan1, Nhi Tran1, Jing Wang-Reed1
1William A. Brookshire Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Houston, Houston, TX, 77204-4004, USA. jcconrad@uh.edu.
Abstract:
We identify factors leading to aggregation of bacteria in the presence of a surfactant using absorbance and microscopy. Two marine bacteria, Marinobacter hydrocarbonoclasticus SP17 and Halomonas titanicae Bead 10BA, formed aggregates of a broad size distribution in synthetic sea water in the presence of an anionic surfactant, dioctyl sodium sulfosuccinate (DOSS). Both DOSS at high concentrations and calcium ions were necessary for aggregate formation, but DOSS micelles were not required for aggregation. Addition of proteinase K but not DNase1 eliminated aggregate formation over two hours. Finally, swimming motility also enhanced aggregate formation.
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