OpinionOpen Access

Agro-Industrial Residues Utilization for Surfactin Production: Cassava Wastewater

Volume 3 - Issue 3

**Cristiano José de Andrade*, Aline Wasem Zanotto, Lidiane Maria de Andrade, Gláucia Maria Pastore and Claudio Augusto Oller do Nasciment**

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- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of São Paulo, Brazil
*Corresponding author: Cristiano José de Andrade, Department of Chemical Engineering, Polytechnic School, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil, Avenue Escola Politécnica, Zip Code: 05350-000

Received: February 02, 2018; Published: March 28, 2018

DOI: 10.26717/BJSTR.2018.03.000894

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Abstract

Biosurfactants are amphiphilic compounds produced, essentially, by microbial cells. The production/applications of biosurfactants are aligned to the green chemistry concept, which includes antimicrobial (bacteria, fungal, mycoplasma, etc), microbial enhanced oil recovery (MEOR), and emulsification, among others [1]. Surfactin, one of the most well-know biosurfactants, was first found in 1968 by Arima, Kakinuma e Tamura [2]. Currently, there are a few surfactin manufacturers as Lipofabrik and Sigma Aldrich that use mineral salt media for surfactin production. Regarding surfactin production, the culture medium represents ≈ 30% total production cost. Thus, some agro-industrial residues have been investigated as alternative culture medium such as olive mill waste, brewery wastewaters, sugarcane and beet molasses, whey, cassava wastewater, etc [3]. In this sense, the cassava processing industry generates ≈ 300 liters of cassava wastewater/ton of cassava, residue which currently has not industrial application. Cassava wastewater contains high minerals (potassium, calcium, magnesium, etc), carbon and nitrogen concentrations, which allow a good microbial growth: bacteria, fungi and yeasts.

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