Microbial biosurfactants for oil spill remediation

The crude oils are viscous hydrocarbons. During transportation through waterways,  sometimes oil spill occurs, which cause environmental disasters. Among others, Exxon Valdez in Alaska (1989), Deepwater Horizon/BP well blowout in the Gulf of Mexico (2010) are major oil-spill-related eco-disasters of the past decades.

The viscous oil forming a gooey film on the water surface choke aquatic life, to death and ruin the ecological balance in the affected areas.

The chemical and mechanical ways of oil spill remediation is effective, but has its own issues.

So, lately biosurfactant-producing bacteria and fungi are being explored. Biosurfactants are amphiphilic compounds capable of reducing interfacial tension, dispersing the oil particles, and degrading into non-toxic debris.

Among the microbes, only Pseudomonas, Bacillus, and Candida have shown much promise. 

Of all the candidates, rhamnolipid, sophorolipid and surfactin have been characterized well. Biosurfactants are the same compounds used as antimicrobial/ antibiotics. While their antibiotic potentials have been harnessed since long time, its time to utilize the environmental reclamation by pollution mitigation role.


For more information, please read: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30343430/






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