Production and characterization of rhamnolipid biosurfactant obtained by
strain Pseudomonas aeruginosa san ai was investigated. With regard to carbon
and nitrogen source several media were tested to enhance production of
rhamnolipids. Phosphate-limited proteose peptone-ammonium salt (PPAS) medium
supplemented with sun flower oil as a source of carbon and mineral ammonium
chloride and peptone as a nitrogen source greatly improved rhamnolipid
production, from 0.15 on basic PPAS (C/N ratio 4.0), to 3 g L-1, on
optimized PPAS medium (C/N ratio 7.7). Response surface methodology analysis
was used for testing effect of three factors: temperature, concentration of
carbon and nitrogen source (w/w), in optimized PPAS medium on rhamnolipid
production. Isolated rhamnolipids were characterized by IR and ESI-MS. IR
spectra confirmed that isolated compound corresponds to rhamnolipid
structure, whereas MS indicated that isolated preparation is a mixture of
mono-rhamno-mono-lipidic, mono-rhamno-di-lipidic- and dirhamno- di-lipidic
congeners.