Investigation on the possibility of using rice and wheat wastes for biosurfactant production by Lactobacillus plantarum

Biosurfactants are amphiphilic molecules that produced by microorganisms and have both hydrophilic and hydrophobic moieties. Scant information regarding their toxicity, combined with high production cost seem to be the major barrier for the limited uses of biosurfactants in the food area. In this work, Lactobacillus plantarum subsp. plantarum PTCC 1896 )probiotic( was used for biosurfactant production in MRS medium. Also, in order to reduce the production cost of biosurfactant, four abundant and low cost lignocellolosic wastes, including rice and wheat bran and straw were evaluated. The biosurfactant produced using rice bran hydrolysate exhibited the minimal surface tension (23.74 mN/m) as compared to other produced biosurfactants and it was selected for further studies. The biosurfactants produced in MRS and rice bran hydrolysate media were extracted, purified and characterized. Biochemical and FTIR spectroscopy analysis showed the biosurfactants are structurally different polysaccharide-protein complexes. These results could provide incentives for the industrial production of the low cost and safe biosurfactant, which seems to offer potential applications in the food and medical industries.