| Author's Name: |
ELEMBA, ODENAKACHI MUNACHIMSO, IJAH, UDEME JOSHUA JOSIAH & CHIBUNNA, MIRACLE |
| Subject Area: |
Life Sciences |
| Subject |
Other |
| Section |
Research Paper |
Keyword:
Biosurfactant, TLC, GCMS, FTIR, Isolates,
Abstract
Serial dilution of soil sample and subsequent plating on nutrient agar resulted in isolation of 15 different bacteria isolates. Haemolytic activity on blood agar plate, three isolates UEO1, UEO9, UEO15 produced a clear zone around the colonies causing lysis of the blood. In the drop-collapsing test all the three strains collapsed the oil drop thus producing a flat drop and also produced a clear zone around the oil indicating ability to displace oil at the range between 5.2-5.7cm when tested using oil displacement method. All these results confirmed the ability of the three strains to produce surface active molecules. But when these isolates where subjected to emulsifications assay there activity varied having an emulsification index of 78.90%, 58.80% and 56.63% for UEO15, UEO1 and UEO9 respectively. The isolates were identified as Serratia marcescens UEO15, Bacillus firmus UEO9 and Bacillus licheniformis UEO1; these isolates (Serratia marcescens UEO15, Bacillus firmus UEO9 and Bacillus licheniformis UEO1) were subjected to biosurfactant production and they produced different amount 12.5(1.34g/l), 5.78 (0.27g/l), and 9.16(0.6g/l) respectively for both crude and purified. Since the aim of the research was on Serratia marcescens, this isolate was concentrated upon and further characterized. The TLC has an Rf value of 0.75 and gave red colour spot when sprayed with ninhydrin classifying it as a lipopeptide; the GCMS revealed the presence of palmitic acid, oleic acid, 1-[[[(2-aminoethoxyhydroxyphosphonyl]oxy] which are characteristic features of phospholipids; the FTIR revealed important functional groups (phosphine,P-H3; amine, N-H and carboxylic acid, C=O) that defined the surfactant to be a phospholipid. The effectiveness of the phospholipid of SMUEO15 in oil recovery was also tested and the result revealed that 78% and 59% of crude oil and kerosene was recovered as compared to 10% and 25% obtained by distilled water respectively. This result confirms that biosurfactant are active biomolecules that can be used in oil recovery and bioremediation of hydrocarbon polluted environment.