Vo l. 9(5), pp. 473-481, Ma y 2015 DOI: 10.5897/ AJEST2015.1898 Artic le Numb e r: F85413452466 ISSN 1996-0786 Co pyright © 2015 Autho r(s) re ta in the c o p yrig ht o f this a rtic le http :/ / www.a c a d e mic jo urna ls.o rg / AJEST African Journal of Environmental Science and Technology Full Length Research Paper Characterization of biosurfactant produced from submerged fermentation of fruits bagasse of yellow cashew (Anacardium occidentale) using Pseudomonas aeruginosa Iroha Okechukwu K., Njoku Obi U., Ogugua Victor N. and Okpashi Victor E.* Department of Biochemistry, University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Received 17 February, 2015; Accepted 25 March, 2015 Biosurfactants are amphiphilic compounds produced by bacteria and fungi to reduce surface and interfacial tension. This work was designed to produce biosurfactants from the fermentation of submerge cashew bagasse (Anacardium occidentale) using a microorganism Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The proximate components of the biosurfactant was determined. Results show that yellow cashew fruit bagasse contains lipid (11.34 ± 0.16%), protein (26.67 ± 0.66%), carbohydrate (49.37 ± 0.60%), moisture (5.78 ± 0.17%), ash (2.70 ± 0.04%) and fibre (2.86 ± 0.09%). Biosurfactants activity was characterized based on emulsification index and oil displacement capacity. The yield of biosurfactants was, 0.71 g; when only cashew was used; 0.93 g for cashew and glucose and nutrient broth 0.12 g respectively. The preliminary biochemical characterization revealed that the biosurfactants contained carbohydrates and lipids designated as glycolipids. The biosurfactants showed antimicrobial activity against a range of Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria strains with diameters of zone and growth inhibition: Escherichia coli, 38.70 ± 1.30 mm; Staphylococcus aureus, 38.00 ± 2.94 mm; Klebsiella, 31.00 ± 2.20 mm and Bacillus cereus, 28.70 ± 1.70 mm. These results suggest that cashew fruits bagasse serve as cheap carbon source for the production of glycolipid biosurfactants with useful industrial applications. Key words: Biosurfactants, fruit bagasse, yellow cashew, characterization and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. INTRODUCTION In recent years, industries have generated large amount of tropical agricultural residues. Their disposal causes several environmental problems such as accidental oil spillage or deliberate oil spillage occasion by vandals in the form of bunker. There has been an increased trend towards efficient utilization of agro industrial residues like oil cakes, wheat bran, soya bean waste, sesame waste, coconut waste, and cashew bagasse (Saharan et al., *Corresponding author. E-mail: vic2reshu@gmail.com. Author(s) agree that this article remain permanently open access under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 International License