Improvement of lindane removal by Streptomyces sp. M7 by using stable microemulsions.

Lindane is an organochlorine pesticide which persists in the environment and can cause serious health problems due to its chlorinated and hydrophobic nature. Microemulsions are isotropic and macroscopically homogeneous systems with high solubilization capacity of hydrophilic and hydrophobic compounds. The aim of this study was to evaluate the removal of high concentrations of lindane by the actinobacterium Streptomyces sp. M7 in aqueous and soil systems in the presence of stable microemulsions. Three stable microemulsions were successfully formed with Tween 80, 1-pentanol and three vegetable oils. In most cases, an increase in the cosurfactant/surfactant ratio in the microemulsions favored the solubilization of lindane, while an increase in the oil/surfactant ratio negatively affected the stability of the system. The microemulsion prepared with soybean oil allowed the solubilization of 66% of lindane added to the aqueous medium and 4.5 times more than the surfactant solution at the same concentration. This microemulsion increased the bioavailability of lindane in the aqueous medium and hence enhanced its removal by Streptomyces sp. M7 almost two times respect to the achieved with the surfactant solution. In loam soil system, the addition of the microemulsion allowed an 87% of lindane removal by Streptomyces sp. M7, increasing almost 50% the removal respect to the obtained without the addition of surfactant agents, although it did not present significant difference respect to the obtained with the surfactant solution. This is the first report on enhanced lindane removal by actinobacteria by using direct microemulsions as bioremediation tools.