Abstract
Oil spills, whether in an aquatic or terrestrial environment, cause the imbalance of ecosystems. It is essential to develop actions and strategies for the remediation of such accidents. Currently, chemical surfactants have been used in oil spills, although the use of these agents is increasingly restricted because of their toxic potential. One solution for the remediation of soils contaminated by oils is the use of biosurfactants, which are biodegradable and nontoxic. In this sense, the biosurfactants produced by Candida sphaerica (UCP0995) and Bacillus cereus using low cost substrates were used with their producer microorganisms in the remediation of motor oil contained in sand and sea water. Sand oil bioremediation experiments were carried out for 70 days, while in sea water the period was 30 days. The results showed that the addition of the biosurfactant increased the degradation of the oil in the sand to 90% during the first 15 days of the process using the biosurfactant produced by C. sphaerica, whereas using the B. cereus 90% oil removal was obtained from 60 days of experiment. With regard to the removal of oil in sea water, it was observed that the time in which the experiments were processed had a direct influence on the results, with removal percentages above 90% after30 days of experiment for both biosurfactants. In this way, the biosurfactants produced, besides being obtained from low cost substrates, demonstrated efficiency in the removal of oils in sand and water, allowing the substitution of chemical treatment agents by environmental friendly agents.
