Biodegradation of waste cooking oil and simultaneous production of rhamnolipid biosurfactant by Pseudomonas aeruginosa P7815 in batch and fed-batch bioreactor

Biosurfactants are non-toxic, surface-active biomolecules capable of reducing surface tension (ST) and emulsifying interface at a comparably lower concentration than commercial surfactants. Yet, poor yield, costlier substrates, and complex cultivation processes limit their commercial applications. This study focuses on producing biosurfactants by Pseudomonas aeruginosa P7815 in batch and fed-batch bioreactor systems using waste cooking oil (WCO) as the sole carbon source. The batch study showed a 92% of WCO biodegradation ability of P. aeruginosa producing 11 g L−1 of biosurfactant. To enhance this biosurfactant production, a fed-batch oil feeding strategy was opted to extend the stationary phase of the bacterium and minimize the effects of substrate deprivation. An enhanced biosurfactant production of 16 g L−1 (i.e. 1.5 times of batch study) was achieved at a feed rate of 5.7 g L−1d−1 with almost 94% of WCO biodegradation activity. The biosurfactant was characterized as rhamnolipid using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and its interfacial characterization showed ST reduction to 29 ± 1 mN m−1 and effective emulsification stability at pH value of 4, temperature up to 40 °C and salinity up to 40 g L−1. The biosurfactant exhibited antibacterial activity with minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values of 100 µg mL−1 and 150 µg mL−1 for pathogenic E. hirae and E. coli, respectively. These findings suggest that biodegradation of WCO by P. aeruginosa in a fed-batch cultivation strategy is a potential alternative for the economical production of biosurfactants, which can be further explored for biomedical, cosmetics, and oil washing/recovery applications.