Abstract
The present study aimed to produce a biosurfactant from Candida yeast cultivated in a low-cost medium made of sugar-cane molasses (5%), frying oil waste (5%), and corn steep liquor (5%). Initially, the production at the flask-scale was investigated and then scaled up in bioreactors to 1.2, 3.0, and 50 L to simulate a real production scale. The products obtained an excellent reduction in surface tensions from 70 to 29 mN·m(-1) in the flask-scale, comparable to 33 mN·m(-1) in the 1.2-L reactor, to 31 mN·m(-1) in the 3-L reactor, and to 30 mN·m(-1) in the 50-L reactor. Regarding the yield, it was observed that the isolation by liquid-to-liquid extraction aided biosurfactant production up to 221.9 g·L(-1) with a critical micellar concentration of 0.5%. The isolated biosurfactant did not exhibit an inhibitory effect on the germination of vegetable seeds and presented no significant acute toxicity in assays with Artemia salina and Allium cepa. Among the different formulations of mayonnaise-like sauces, the most stable formula was observed with the addition of the biosurfactant at a concentration of 0.5% and the greatest results were associated with the guar and carboxymethyl cellulose gums. Thus, the biosurfactant from C. bombicola represents a promising alternative as a food additive in emulsions.