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Cell-surface functional groups (amino, carboxyl, hydroxyl, as well as phosphate) were chemically modified in various ways to enhance the demulsification capability of the demulsifying bacteria Alcaligenes sp. S-XJ-1. Results demonstrated that the demulsifying activity was significantly inhibited by amino enrichment with cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide, amino methylation, hydroxyl acetylation, and phosphate esterification, but was gradually promoted by carboxyl blocking with increasing the extents of esterification. Compared with the raw biomass, an optimal esterification of carboxyl moieties enhanced the demulsification ratio by 26.5% and shortened the emulsion half-life from 24 to 8.8 h. The demulsification boost was found to be dominated by strengthened hydrophobicity (from 53° to 74°) and weakened electronegativity (from -34.6 to -4.3 mV at pH 7.0) of the cell surface, allowing the rapid dispersion and adsorption of cells onto the oil-water interface. The chemical modification of the functional groups on the biomass surface is a promising tool for the creation of a high-performance bacterial demulsifier.

Biodemulsifiers are environmentally friendly agents used in recycling oil or purifying water from emulsion, yet the demulsifying feature of cell-surface composition remains unclear. In this study, potentiometric titration, attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time-of-flight mass spectrometry were combined to characterize cell-surface chemical composition of demulsifying strain Alcaligenes sp. S-XJ-1 cultivated with different carbon sources. Cells cultivated with alkane contained abundant elemental nitrogen and basic functional groups, indicating that their surface was rich in proteins or peptides, which contributed to their highest demulsifying efficiency. For cells cultivated with fatty acid ester, the relatively abundant surface lipid contributed to a 50% demulsification ratio owing to the presence of more acidic functional group. The cells cultivated with glucose exhibited a high oxygen concentration (O/C ∼0.28), which indicated the presence of more polysaccharides on the cell surface. This induced the lowest demulsification ratio of 30%. It can be concluded that cell surface-associated proteins or lipids other than the polysaccharide of the demulsifying strain played a positive role in the demulsification activity. In addition, the cell-surface oligoglutamate compounds identified in situ were crucial to the demulsifying capability.

The main goal of this work was to analyze the effect of surface substances on demulsifying capability of the demulsifying strain Alcaligenes sp. S-XJ-1. The demulsifying substances were successfully separated from the cell surface with dichloromethane-alkali treatment, and exhibited 67.5% of the demulsification ratio for water-in-kerosene emulsions at a dosage of 356mg/L. FT-IR, TLC and ESI-MS analysis confirmed the presence of a carbohydrate-protein-lipid complex in the demulsifying substances with the major molecular ions from mass-to-charge ratio (m/z) 165 to 814. After the substances separated, the cell morphology changed from aggregated to dispersed, and the concentration of cell surface functional groups decreased. Cell surface hydrophobicity and the ability of cell adhesion to hydrophobic surface of the treated cells was also reduced compared with original cell. It was proved that the demulsifying substances had a significant effect on cell surface properties and accordingly with demulsifying capability of Alcaligenes sp. S-XJ-1., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Exploration of biodemulsifiers has become a new research aspect. Using waste frying oils (WFOs) as carbon source to synthesize biodemulsifiers has a potential prospect to decrease production cost and to improve the application of biodemulsifiers in the oilfield. In this study, a demulsifying strain, Alcaligenes sp. S-XJ-1, was investigated to synthesize a biodemulsifier using waste frying oils as carbon source. It was found that the increase of initial pH of culture medium could increase the biodemulsifier yield but decrease the demulsification ratio compared to that using paraffin as carbon source. In addition, a biodemulsifier produced by waste frying oils and paraffin as mixed carbon source had a lower demulsification capability compared with that produced by paraffin or waste frying oil as sole carbon source. Fed-batch fermentation of biodemulsifier using waste frying oils as supplementary carbon source was found to be a suitable method. Mechanism of waste frying oils utilization was studied by using tripalmitin, olein and tristearin as sole carbon sources to synthesize biodemulsifier. The results showed saturated long-chain fatty acid was difficult for S-XJ-1 to utilize but could effectively enhance the demulsification ability of the produced biodemulsifier. Moreover, FT-IR result showed that the demulsification capability of biodemulsifiers was associated with the content of C=O group and nitrogen element.

Bacterial behavior in oil–water biphasic systems plays an essential role in hydrophobic contaminant degradation, oil recovery, and emulsion breaking. Less is known about the cell surface properties that govern their behaviors in oil–water biphasic systems. In this study, biphasic partitioning and aggregation of a demulsifying strain ofAlcaligenessp. S-XJ-1 were experimentally measured and evaluated based on the cell surface properties of surface charge, surface free energy, and cell surface hydrophobicity (CSH). The S-XJ-1 was cultivated with five different carbon sources, and the results showed a highly varied partitioning, aggregation behavior, and cell surface properties. The calculated interaction energies, based on the cell surface properties, were consistent with the results of their behavior. Among the cell surface properties, the electron-donor character (γ−, range 8.8–57.0 mJ/m2), which correlated well with CSH (ΔGbwb), was an essential indicator of cell behavior. A lowγ−value enhanced the cell–interface and cell–cell interaction energies, which promoted cell partitioning and aggregation eventually leading to demulsification. The results and analysis provide important information for researchers concerned with cell–cell and cell–interface interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]