Production of surface active compounds from methane.

Methane utilizing bacterial strain was isolated and found to produce a surface active compound while growing on methane. The maximum production of the surface active compound depended on pressure of methane and air in the reactor. The crude surface active compound was extracted from the cell free broth and its surface active and emulsification properties were studied. The purified surface active compound had a critical micelle concentration of 150 mg/l at pH 7.0. On the basis of surface tension reduction, emulsification property and IR-spectrophotometric results this surface active compound was characterized as a glycolipid.