Abstract: The disposal and the treatment of sewage sludge is an
expensive and environmentally complex problem. In this work, a
lipopeptide biosurfactant extracted from corn steep liquor was used
as ecofriendly and cost-competitive alternative for the mobilization
and bioremediation of fluorene in sewage sludge. Results have
demonstrated that this biosurfactant has the capability to mobilize
fluorene to the aqueous phase, reducing the amount of fluorene in the
sewage sludge from 484.4 mg/Kg up to 413.7 mg/Kg and 196.0
mg/Kg after 1 and 27 days respectively. Furthermore, once the
fluorene was extracted the lipopeptide biosurfactant contained in the
aqueous phase allowed the biodegradation, up to 40.5% of the initial
concentration of this polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon.