
Dr. Ahuekwe Eze Frank
Discipline: Science
- Thesis title:
Production of Sophorolipid Biosurfactant From Indigenous Sources for Industrial Applications
Contribution to knowledge:
This study successfully used agro-industrial waste substrates to produce Sophorolipid biosurfactants of microbial origin possessing good physicochemical characteristics, higher surface and interfacial activities as well as stable over a wide range of pH, temperature and salt conditions. The study also successfully performed the partial genomic DNA sequencing of hydrocarbon utilizing yeasts (Candida bombicola and Rhodotorula mucilaginosa) and mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus) with high sophorolipid production capacities and deposited them with the GenBank of the United States National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) with GenBank accession numbers KX833089, KX833090 and KX833091, respectively.
Supervisors:
Dr. Ahuekwe, Eze Frank, was jointly supervised by Prof. Bosa E.Okoli (Department of Microbiology) Dr. Herbert O. Stanley (Department of Microbiology) & Dr. Boma Kinigoma (Department of Petroleum Engineering) all of the University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria.