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Characterization and Application of Biosurfactant Produced by Bacillus licheniformis R2

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Abstract

The biosurfactant produced by Bacillus licheniformis R2 was characterized and studied for enhancing the heavy crude oil recovery at 80 °C in coreflood experiments. The strain was found to be nonpathogenic and produced biosurfactant, reducing the surface tension of medium from 70 to 28 mN/m with 1.1 g/l yield. The biosurfactant was quite stable during exposure to elevated temperatures (85 °C for 90 days), high salinity (10 % NaCl), and a wide range of pH (5–12) for 10 days. It was characterized as lipopeptide similar to lichenysin-A, with a critical micelle concentration of about 19.4 mg/l. The efficiency of crude biosurfactant for enhanced oil recovery by core flood studies revealed it to recovering additional 37.1 % oil from Berea sandstone cores at 80 °C. The results are indicative of the potential for the development of lipopeptide biosurfactant-based ex situ microbial enhanced heavy oil recovery from depleting oil fields with extreme temperatures.

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Acknowledgments

SJ acknowledge the M.S. University of Baroda and Institute of reservoir studies, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd., India, for research funding, extended stability studies, and coreflood facility; Sun Pharmaceutical Advanced Research Centre, Baroda, Gujarat, India, for NMR studies; Jay Research Foundation, Gujarat, India, for pathogenicity studies and Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, Biophysics Department for MALDI-TOF–MS/MS analysis.

Compliance with Ethical Standards

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. This research involved “Acute Dermal Toxicity Testing” of the bacterium, using Wistar rats. It was conducted at “Jay Research Foundation, Gujarat, India,” as per the prescribed guidelines and the laws. JRF India (Valsad, Gujarat, India; http://www.jrfonline.com/)is accredited by AAALAC as well as Committee for the Purpose of Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals (35/1999/CPCSEA) with respect to humane and ethical treatment of laboratory animals.

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Author notes

  1. Sanket J. Joshi

    Present address: Department of Biology, College of Science, Sultan Qaboos University, PO Box 36, Postal Code 123, Al-Khod, Sultanate of Oman

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Microbiology and Biotechnology Centre, The M.S. University of Baroda, Vadodara, 390002, Gujarat, India

    Sanket J. Joshi, S. J. Geetha & Anjana J. Desai

  2. Department of Biology, College of Science, Sultan Qaboos University, PO Box 36, Postal Code 123, Al-Khod, Sultanate of Oman

    S. J. Geetha

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  1. Sanket J. Joshi
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Correspondence to Sanket J. Joshi.

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Joshi, S.J., Geetha, S.J. & Desai, A.J. Characterization and Application of Biosurfactant Produced by Bacillus licheniformis R2. Appl Biochem Biotechnol 177, 346–361 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12010-015-1746-4

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