Surface active agent production from olive oil in high salt conditions and its process optimization

Microbial surfactants or biosurfactants are surface active amphiphilic macromolecules that are produced by a number of microorganisms (bacteria, yeast and fungi). These compounds have extensive application in various industries especially in food, pharmaceutical and oil industry. The aim of this paper is to optimize the culture conditions for the biosurfactant production from olive oil by a novel halophilic isolate microorganism. The Taguchi experimental design methodology based analysis of olive oil as carbon source, yeast extract as nitrogen source and KH2PO4 as phosphorus source revealed that the olive oil and yeast extract significantly affect biosurfactant production in high salt conditions. Maximum biosurfactant (E24= 40%) produced in the presence of 4% (v/v) olive oil, 0.2% (w/v) yeast extract, and 0.002% (w/v) KH2PO4 . In conclusion, halophilic archaeon Haloarcula sp. IRU1 could be a potential microorganism for the production of biosurfactant from olive oil as carbon source in high salt conditions. The optimal parameters obtained during the optimization process were: olive oil 4%, yeast extract 0.4% and KH2PO4 0.004%.