Environmental toxicity and biodegradation of Pseudomonas sp. EL-G527 producing biosurfactant

A biosurfactant-producing microorganism, .Pseudomouos sp. EL-G527 was isolated from activated sludge by enrichment culture when grown on mineral salt medium containing n-hexadecane as a carbon source. The biosurfactant from .Pseudomonar sp. EL-G527 exhibited lesser toxicity to bacterial population than synthetic surfactants and in the biodegradation test, biosurfactant was rapidly degraded and lost its activity as surface active material after 1 day incubation. In this study, the biosurfactant from Pseudomonas sp. EL-G527 was effective surface-active compound, more biodegradable and less toxic to microbial ecosystem than various synthetic surfactants.