• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.32 no.11
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• pp.1017-1023
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• 2010

This study investigated the effect of surfactants (nonionic surfactant (Tween 20), biosurfactant) on enhancing transport of bacteria (Bacillus subtilis ATCC 6633) in geological materials. Column experiments were performed under various surfactant conditions with columns packed with quartz sand (particle size distribution: 0.5~2.0 mm, mean diameter: 1.0 mm). Bacterial mass recovery, sticking efficiency, and other parameters were quantified from breakthrough curves. Results indicate that bacterial attachment to sand surfaces increased considerably in the presence of mineral salt medium (MSM), especially at the inlet, which was due to the increase of ionic strength by MSM. It was observed that bacterial transport in sand columns was enhanced in the presence of surfactant. Results also show that simultaneous injection of both surfactant and MSM or pre-injection of surfactant was more effective in bacterial transport enhancement than after-injection of surfactant. This study suggests that transport of bacteria in geological materials could be influenced by surfactants and their injection methods.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.753-758
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• 2018

Surface activities including CMC, surface tension, foaming power etc. of the rhamnolipid (RL), a biosurfactant fermented by microorganism were investigated. Both the RL and liquid detergent contained RL showed a good surface activity. For the detergency test, the liquid detergent with RL showed a slightly better performance than that of using an fatty acid. However for the foaming profile, the liquid detergent with RL exhibited a lot of foam volume and the suppression of the rinsing and foaming during rinsing cycles with the RL was not seen. Therefore it can be concluded that RL can be used as a main surfactant or co-surfactant in liquid detergents without functions of foaming suppression or rinse-aid.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.724-730
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• 2004

Effects of the biosurfactant produced by Rhodococcus erythropolis on the solubilization and biodegradation of phenanthrene were investigated. Based on surface tension measurements, the average critical micelle concentration of the biosurfactant was estimated to be about 16mg TOC/L. The apparent solubility of phenanthrene increased linearly with the addition of biosurfactants above the CMC, and the concentration of solubilized phenanthrene was 38.9mg/L in 322mg TOC/L biosurfactant solution. The weight-solubilization ratio of biosurfactants for phenanthrene was approximately 118.8mg/g, this value was over 5 times greater than that of sodium dodecyl sulfate. Using a known phenanthrene degrader, batch phenanthrene biodegradation experiments were conducted with and without biosurfactants in liquid culture. The rate and extent of phenanthrene mineralization by the phenanthrene degrader with biosurfactants were much greater than those without biosurfactants. The greater phenanthrene mineralization observed in the presence of biosurfactants is attributed to the increased phenanthrene concentration in the aqueous culture due to the partitioning of the compound to biosurfactant micelles. The biosurfactant did not exhibit any toxic effect on mineralization of glucose by the phenanthrene-degrader.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.12 no.10
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• pp.23-28
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• 2011

This study was conducted to investigate the adsorption characteristics of various surfactants including biosurfactant, SWA 1503, Triton X-100 and sodium dodecyl sulfate(SDS) on soil. The Freundlich adsorption isotherm equation was found to be the best to describe experimental results. The amount of adsorbed surfactant on soil increased as the content of clay increased. The results showed that surfactant was adsorbed mainly on the surface and the pores of soil since the surface area of clay was larger than that of sand. The amount of adsorbed surfactants on soil was as follows: Biosurfactant > SWA 1503 > Triton X-100 > SDS.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.27-35
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• 2024

It was known that crude oil can be mainly divided into saturates, aromatics, resins, and asphaltenes. If microbial biodegradation of asphaltenes is effectively viable, additional oil production will be expected from depleted oil reservoir. Meanwhile, biodegradation can be applied to other aspects, such as the bioremediation of spilled oil. In this case, the biodegradation of asphaltenes also plays an important role. It has been already reported that asphaltenes are decomposed by bacterial consortia. However, the biodegradation mechanism of asphaltenes has not been clearly presented. The major reason is that the molecular structure of asphaltenes is complicated and is mainly in a aggregated form. In this paper, it was presumed that the biodegradation process of asphaltenes may follow the microbial oxidation mechanism of saturates and aromatics which are easier biodegradable than asphaltenes among the crude oil components. In other words, the biodegradation process was explained by serial stages; the contact between asphaltenes and bacteria in the presence of biosurfactants, and the decomposition of alkyl groups and fused-rings within the asphaltene structure.