Abstract

Increase in oil pollution due to accidental leakages during various ship operations and human activities make these hydrocarbons the most common global environmental pollutants. Current understanding in degradation of these harmful oils involves the isolation of biosurfactants from various isolated microbial strains from contaminated sites of Marine Sea. Biosurfactants are the surface active molecules synthesized by microorganisms. Due to various side effects of chemical surfactants the demand for biosurfactant production and its synthesis has been steadily increasing and may eventually replace their chemically synthesized counterparts. In this study, isolation and identification of biosurfactant producing bacteria were assessed from oil-spilled area of Arabian Sea. To confirm the ability of isolates in biosurfactant production, various biosurfactant activity assay tests were performed. Marine biosurfactants produced by some marine microorganisms have been paid more attention, particularly for the bioremediation of the sea polluted by crude oil. Among all of the isolated strains Pseudomonas sp. showed the highest biosurfactant activity. The biosurfactant component was detected as glycolipid or other anionic surfactants in analysis of a phenotypic assay test using CTAB. The isolated culture filtrate was found to be highly effective in microbial enhanced oil recovery (MEOR) using sand pack method.

Key words: Biosurfactant, Pseudomonas sp., microbial enhanced oil recovery, oil spilled area.