Utilization of palm oil mill effluent as a novel and promising substrate for biosurfactant production by Nevskia ramosa NA3

This paper introduces palm oil mill effluent as a promising substrate for biosurfactant production. Potential strains of bacteria were isolated from various hydrocarbon-contaminated soils and screened for biosurfactant production with the help of the drop collapse method and surface tension measurements. Out of 26 isolates of bacteria, the strain NA3 showed the highest bacterial growth with the highest surface tension reduction of 27.2 mN/m. It was then identified as Nevskia ramosa NA3 by biochemical and 16S rRNA sequence analysis. The Plackett-Burman experimental design was employed to determine the important nutritional requirements for biosurfactant production by N. ramosa NA3 under controlled conditions. Six out of 11 factors of the production medium were found to significantly affect the production of biosurfactant. FeCl 2 and NaNO 3 had a direct proportional correlation with the biosurfactant production. Commercial sugar, glucose, K 2 HPO 4 and MgCl 2 showed inversely proportional relationship with biosurfactant production in the selected experimental range.