Isolation and Characterization of Biosurfactant Producing Bacteria from Oil-Contaminated Water

Biosurfactants are chemical compounds produced by some microorganisms to initiate oil biodegradation. They have been applied generously in many industries. The present work aimed to isolate and identify a new bacterial strain, of water habitat, capable of producing biosurfactant. So, water samples were collected from three different water environments including river Nile at Alkanater city, Qalyubia governorate; was representing clear raw water. River Nile at ship settlement station, Imbaba city, Giza governorate; was representing oil- contaminated water, where there were some oil spills from ship fixation. Rahawy drain, Giza governorate; was representing highly polluted wastewater. The bacterial community of each water environment was isolated and inventoried, then screened for biosurfactant production by blood hemolysis, oil spreading technique, drop collapse assay, foaming activity and emulsification activity. Bacterial strains isolated from the oil-contaminated environment showed high potential for biosurfactant production, and the best biosurfactant producing isolate was identified by 16S rRNA technique as Pseudomonas protegens, and the produced biosurfactant was belong to rhamnolipid group.