Abstract
In 2010, the most catastrophic oil disaster occurred in the Gulf of Mexico: the Deepwater Horizon Accident, spreading at least 780 million liters of petroleum. As an alternative to treat the reported spill, the scientists utilized over than 7 million liters of chemical surfactants without control, however the toxicity had raised 56 times. In this sense, the combination of a machine controlled by a Arduino board to remove the oil with a biotechnology of tensoative compounds performed by the biosurfactants was made to ensure the bioremediation. This machine was denominated Oil Bioremoval Prototype (OBP) and was composed by two modulus: one with mechanical agitation made by impellers to mix oil, water, and biosurfactant and other with dissolved air utilized to flotate the mixture. Besides, the biosurfactant was produced by the yeast Candida guilliermondii in a medium composed by 4.0 % corn steep, 2.5 % molasses, and 2.5 % residual soybean oil in a bioreactor 50.0 l, during 132 h, under a temperature of 28 °C, an agitation of 250 rpm, and an aeration of16.5 l/min. Through a Central Composite Rotatable Design (CCRD), three independent variables were applied in the OBP: the concentration of the biosurfactant, which was modified from 1.6 to 18.4 %, the aeration frequency, which was changed from 33.2 to 66.8 l/h, and the aeration time which was analysed from 0.32 to3.68 min, measuring the turbidity difference as the response surface. Furthermore, the cost to produce the OBP was evaluated in euros. Wherefore, the turbidity differences showed that low fractions of the biosurfactant were required to become a mixture with a less turbid of 300.0 NTU. On the other hand, the aeration time and air frequency ranges were performed with maxima values. Wherefore, it is important to join the biotechnology with robotics to comprehend the involved factors and to remove the oil.
