APPLICATION OF AGRO BASED RESUIDALS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF SURACTANT ON IOR USING MICROBES

Abstract

Utilization of surfactants for IOR is an accepted technique with high potential. However, technology application is frequently limited by cost. Biosurfactants (surface-active molecules produced by microorganisms) are commonly used in specialty markets such as food and textiles and have potential for IOR application. Currently, biosurfactants are not widely utilized in the petroleum industry due to high production costs associated with use of expensive substrates and inefficient product recovery methods. The economics of biosurfactant production could be significantly impacted through use of media optimization and application of inexpensive carbon substrates such as agricultural process residuals. Utilization of biosurfactants produced from agricultural residuals may 1) Result in an economic advantage for surfactant production and technology application, and 2) convert a substantial agricultural waste stream to a value-added product for IOR. A biosurfactant with high potential for use is surfactin, a lipopeptide biosurfactant, produced by Bacillus subtilis. Reported here is the production and Potential IOR utilization of surfactin produced by Bacillus subtilis ATCC 21332 (American Type Culture Collection) from starch based media. Production of surfactants from microbiological growth media based on simple sugars, chemically pure starch medium, simulated liquid and solid potato-process effluent media, a commercially prepared potato starch in mineral salts, and process effluent from a potato processor is discussed. Additionally, the effect of chemical and physical pretreatments on starch feedstocks is discussed. Current work is an overview of previous work. This effort details the progress of research from initial observation of surfactin production from simple growth media through production of surfactin from process effluents from a local potato processor.