Production of surfactant by Arthrobacter paraffineus ATCC 19558.

A. paraffineus ATCC 19558 grown in MMSM (modified mineral salts medium) containing hydrocarbon produced surfactant, with a maximum CMC(-1) value obtained by using hexadecane as the carbon source. No activity of surface active agent in whole broth was observed when glucose was used in the MMSM instead of hexadecane. The biomass concentration obtained with glucose was about 40% of that obtained with hexadecane. Glucose (4%) in the medium containing hexadecane caused a 27 and 21% decrease of biomass and surfactant concentrations, respectively. In the process of surfactant production, glucose can be used as a carbon source for growth, and hexadecane added later can serve for production of the surface active agent. The optimum temperature for production of surfactant is 27 degrees C.