Los Biosurfactantes y la industria petrolera

LAURA J. RAIGER- IUSTMAN; NANCY I. LOPEZ

QUíMICA VIVA

DEPARTAMENTO DE QUÍMICA BIOLÓGICA, FACULTAD DE CIENCIAS EXACTAS Y NATURALES, UNIVERSIDAD DE BUENOS AIRES

Lugar: Buenos Aires; Año: 2009 vol. 8 p. 146 - 161

1666-7948

Oil is a key element for human activities as an energy source and as feedstock for the production of several compounds. Two major problems from the oil industry are, on one hand, the pollution it produces and on the other, the low efficiency in the oil extraction from their natural reservoirs. One of the techniques for contaminated sites remediation is based on the use of microorganisms capable of degrading petroleum and its derivatives. However, the hydrophobic nature of oil makes these compounds not available to the degrading organisms. To promote degradation and to facilitate removal of the deposits, it is important to increase their mobilization and solubilization in aqueous media, and for this, the use of tensoactive compounds (surfactants) has been proposed. Some microorganisms have the ability to synthesize biosurfactants. The biosurfactants have several advantages over the chemical ones: biodegradability, low toxicity, biocompatibility, specificity and a wide variety of chemical structures. These features have allowed, in recent years, the development of remediation and residual oil recovery techniques involving the use of biosurfactants.