| abstract |
Growth of Acinetobacter Sp. ATCC 31012 on various substrates and under varying conditions has been used to produce two classes of extracellular microbiol protein-associated lipopolysaccharides (the "emulsans") which, on a weight-for-weight basis, are probably the most efficient emulsifiers discovered and which possess certain characteristics that permit these unique extracellular microbial lipopolysaccharides to be widely used in cleaning oil-contaminated vessels, oil spill management, and enhanced oil recovery by chemical flooding. These classes have been named alpha -emulsans and beta -emulsans, both of which have substantially the same polymer backbone but differ from each other in certain important structural aspects. Emulsans and apoemulsans, both of which biopolymers are strongly anionic, exhibit a high degree of specificity in the emulsification of hydrocarbon substrates which contain both aliphatic and cyclic components. In addition, these extracellular microbial polysaccharides as well as their O-deacylated and N-deacylated derivatives are adsorbed on and capable of flocculating aluminosilicate ion-exchangers, such as kaolin and bentonite. |