Evaluation of screening methods for demulsifying bacteria and characterization of lipopeptide bio-demulsifier produced by Alcaligenes sp.

In this paper, surface tension measurement, oil-spreading test and blood-plate hemolysis test were attempted in the screening of demulsifying bacteria. After the comparison to the screening results obtained in demulsification test, 50 mN/m of surface tension of culture was proposed as a preliminary screening standard for potential demulsifying bacteria. For the identification of efficient demulsifying strains, surface tension level was set at 40 mN/m. The detected strains were further verified in demulsification test. Compared to using demulsification test alone as screening method, the proposed screening protocol would be more efficient. From the screening, a highly efficient demulsifying stain, S-XJ-1, was isolated from petroleum-contaminated soil and identified as Alcaligenes sp. by 16S rRNA gene and physiological test. It achieved 96.5% and 49.8% of emulsion breaking ratio in W/O and O/W kerosene emulsion within 24 h, respectively, and also showed 95% of water separation ratio in oilfield petroleum emulsion within 2 h. The bio-demulsifier was found to be cell-wall combined. After soxhlet extraction and purification through silicon-gel column, the bio-demulsifier was then identified as lipopeptide biosurfactant by TLC and FT–IR.