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Biosurfactants are surface-active agents produced by a variety of microorganisms. To make biosurfactant production economically feasible, several alternative carbon sources have been proposed. This study describes biosurfactant production by strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Burkholderia gladioli isolated from mangrove sediments in Northeastern Brazil and cultured in mineral media enriched with waste cooking oil. The biosurfactants were tested for drop collapse, emulsion formation and stability and surface tension. P. aeruginosa performed better both at lowering the surface tension (from 69 to 28 mN/m) and at forming stable emulsions (approximately 80%) at 48 hours of culture. The strains tested in this study were found to be efficient biosurfactant producers when cultured on substrates enriched with vegetable oil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A pore-expanded mesoporous silica (SBA-15) was investigated for the immobilization of a recombinant Candida antarctica lipase B (LIPB). The influence of contact time and medium pH during adsorption, as well as thermal and solvent stability of the immobilized enzyme were evaluated. The best prepared biocatalyst was then evaluated in a model esterification reaction, the production of two flavour esters (e.g. methyl and ethyl butyrate) and in a model hydrolysis reaction, the ethyl hexanoate hydrolysis. The biocatalyst maintained high activity and operational stability even after five successive cycles of synthesis. A commercial C. antarctica lipase B was also immobilized on SBA-15 and evaluated under the same conditions, achieving similar volumetric productivities. In addition, the biocatalyst SBA-15-LIPB was tested in ethyl hexanoate hydrolysis. The influence of reactional medium pH was conducted (pH 5, 7 and 9.2) and the highest biocatalyst activity was at pH 5 (about 636.3 U/g enzyme ). SBA-15-LIPB and SBA-15-LIPB-GA (crosslinked biocatalyst) were reused for 5 cycles, retaining, after the third cycle, 56.6 and 76.80%, respectively, of its initial activity. The prepared biocatalysts were able to catalyze the model reactions (esterification and hydrolysis) with high activity and reasonable stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study evaluates the production of biodiesel and ethanol from spent coffee grounds (SCG). The extraction of oil from SCG, biodiesel production and ethanol production processes were studied. The liquid-to-solid ratio and temperature were evaluated in the ultrasound-assisted extraction of the oil from SCG. The highest yield (12%) was obtained using 4 mL g-1 liquid-to-solid ratio at 60 °C for 45 min. The process to produce biodiesel showed a yield of 97% into fatty acid methyl esters (FAME). The highest glucose yield (192 mg gSCG-1) was obtained by hydrolysis with 0.4 mol L-1 sulfuric acid at 121 °C for 15 min. The hydrolysate was used as fermentation medium for ethanol production by Saccharomyces cerevisiae obtaining 19.0 g L-1 at 10 h of process of ethanol with a yield of ethanol and productivity of 0.50 g g-1 and 1.90 g L-1 h-1, respectively. Spent coffee grounds were considered a potential feedstock for biodiesel and ethanol production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]