Valorization of Date Syrup by the Production of Lipopeptide Biosurfactants by a Bacillus mojavensis BI2 strain: Bioprocess Optimization by Response Surface Methodology and Study of Surface Activities

Lipopeptides Biosurfactants are natural surface-active compounds produced by a variety of microorganisms. They have great interest in environmental, biomedical and agro-industrial fields. However, the high cost of culture media and the low yield of production limit their large-scale production and application. The development of efficient and cost-effective bioprocess became of a great interest for the improvement of the yield of biosurfactants and the decrease of production cost. In this aim, we applied the response surface method to optimize an economic biosurfactant production by a newly isolated strain B. mojavensis BI2 on date syrup called “Luegmi” as unique carbon and nitrogen source. Using a Box-Bhenken design, we studied the effect of three independent variables on lipopeptide production; Leugmi concentration, Na 2 HPO 4 and incubation time. The results of this study showed that Leugmi concentration at 25%, Na 2 HPO 4 at 0.1% and incubation time of 24 hours were optimal conditions for biosurfactant production, with a maximum surface tension decreasing capacity of 55% corresponding to 27 mN/m and oil dispersing of 30 cm 2 corresponding to a diameter of 6 cm. Preliminary characterization of the biosurfactant produced on Luegmi by UV-Spectra and Thin Layer Chromatography showed its lipopeptide characters. Physic-chemical characterization of the produced lipopepetide on Leugmi showed its great surface activities and stabilities at different pH, temperature and salts concentration. The results of this study suggested that Leugmi, an agricultural byproducts can be used as a low-cost substrate to enhance the yield of lipopeptide biosurfactants with great surface activities for potential environmental application.