International Journal of Environmental Science and Development

Abstract—Biosurfactant is potentially used to enhance oil recovery from oil sludge. The exopolysaccharide-formed biosurfactant is produced from Azotobacter sp. using 2 w/v% glucose sources. The oil sludge taken from company X and biosurfactant is agitated under the speed of 150 rpm and temperature of 20-25°C. The ratios of oil sludge and biosurfactant were varied by 1:1, 2:1 and 3:1. After 7 h agitation, the mixture was stood alone for 12 hours to obtain the 3 separated phases among oil (top), water (middle) and solid (bottom). The role of biosurfactant as surface tension reducer successfully separated among oil, water, solid from the oil sludge. The amounts of oil recovered from oil sludge are 55.95%, 51.76% and 25.57% for ratio 3:1, ratio 2:1, and ratio 1:1, respectively. Further, the slurry phase bioremediation method under 120 rpm of impeller velocity was applied to treat the bottom formation (slurry) from previous process. Both 5 w/v% Petrofilic bacteria (Unidentified Mix Culture) as a degrader agent and 5 w/v% fertilizer as nutrient were added in the first day of bioremediation process. Under controlled 10-40% solid concentration, 5.5-9.5 pH, 20-40°C (mesofilic condition), the total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) was successfully decreased until 6.83%, 3.48%, and 2.11% for slurry of ratio 1:1, ratio 2:1, and ratio 3:1 in 35 days.

Index Terms—Azotobacter sp., biosurfactant, oil recovery, slurry Phase bioremediation.

Merry Sianipar is with Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB) and Pasundan University, Bandung, Indonesia (e-mail: sianipar.merry.ms@gmail.com).
Edwan Kardena is with Institut Teknologi Bandung, Bandung, Indonesia. He is now with the Department of Environmental Engineering, Indonesia (e-mail: kardena@pusat.itb.ac.id).
Syarif Hidayat is with the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, Hanyang University, Republic of Korea (e-mail: syarif_hidayat153@yahoo.com).

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Cite: Merry Sianipar, Edwan Kardena, and Syarif Hidayat, "The Application of Biosurfactant Produced by Azotobacter sp. for Oil Recovery and Reducing the Hydrocarbon Loading in Bioremediation Process," International Journal of Environmental Science and Development vol. 7, no. 7, pp. 494-498, 2016.