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ABSTRACT
Modern societies generate high quantity of waste materials through activities related to industries, agriculture and municipalities of which palm oil mill effluent (POME) ranks greatly especially in southern Nigeria.Therefore the aim of this study was to produce extracellular biosurfactant using fungal isolates from palm oil mill effluent as well as the characterization and structural elucidation of compounds contained in the produced biosurfactants.
A total of eighteen (18) POME samples were collected from six sampling locations around the press flow sites of Nigeria Institute for Oil Palm Research (NIFOR) and a local mill at Iguiye community, off Benin-Lagos Road, Benin City, Edo State. The physicochemical qualities of POME were determined using standard methods of the Association of Official Analytical Chemist (A.O.A.C). The fungal enumeration, isolation and characterization were carried out using standard microbiological techniques. Molecular characterization of the fungal isolates was carried out using 28S rRNA and biosurfactant production was by shake-flask technique. Biosurfactact activity was evaluated using drop-collapsing test, oil-displacement test emulsification index, surface tension and critical micelle concentration. Characterization of compounds and structural elucidation of biosurfactants produced was determined by standard techniques including thin-layer chromatography (TLC), column chromatography and gas chromatographic methods.
