Enhanced Biosurfactant Production by Bacillus pumilus 2IR in Fed-Batch Fermentation Using 5-L Bioreactor

The enhancement of the production of lipopeptide biosurfactant by Bacillus pumilus 2IR as an oil field-isolated bacterium was investigated in the fed-batch fermentation using a 5-L bioreactor. The initial study on the culture medium composition used for biosurfactant synthesis revealed that biosurfactant production was greatly affected by glucose, crude oil, potassium nitrate and ammonium sulfate as pivotal carbon and nitrogen sources which were utilized for biosurfactant synthesis in the bioreactor. The results obtained from the batch fermentation process in the bioreactor showed that the quantities of biomass and biosurfactant produced were 4.15 and 0.98 g/L, respectively. Similar results revealed that fed-batch fermentation led to the production of 5.71 g/L biomass and 1.06 g/L biosurfactant in the bioreactor.