International Journal of Recent Technology and Engineering (IJRTE) ISSN: 2277-3878 (Online), Volume-10 Issue-3, September 2021 75 Published By: Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering and Sciences Publication (BEIESP) © Copyright: All rights reserved. Retrieval Number: 100.1/ijrte.C64280910321 DOI: 10.35940/ijrte.C6428.0910321 Journal Website: www.ijrte.org Field Test of "U-Champ" Biosurfactant in Oil Spill Bioremediation Harry Budiharjo Sulistyarso, Joko Pamungkas, Sri Rahayu G, Indah Widiyaningsih, Kevin Yudha Perwira Abstract: One of the serious environmental problems of the oil and gas industry is handling oil spills. Oil spills can be managed by using bioremediation in the form of biosurfactants. In this research, biosurfactants called U-Champ were used which can impact in remediation of oil spills. The research conducted was testing the effectiveness of biosurfactants on Cepu Field contaminated soil in reducing TPH and heavy metals. The method is done by stirring the contaminated soil with various concentrations of biosurfactant product in an artificial tank. Based on the test results, a decline in TPH and TCLP along with the increase in U-Champ biosurfactant concentration was used. The addition of 6 Liters of biosurfactant gave the most significant reduction. Some of the heavy metals in the soil decrease, but some also have increased. As an example, it can be seen in Ba metal, the addition of U-Champ biosurfactant as much as 1.5 L (0.3% v / v) resulted in a decrease in TCLP of 11.085%. The qualitative result is evidenced by the growth of various plants in each artificial tank. Keywords: Biosurfactant, Bioremediation, Oil Spills, U-Champ I. INTRODUCTION Petroleum has the role as one of the most important sources of raw material and energy for industry nowadays. Dependence on petroleum as an energy source such as fuel has influenced the development of the economic sector. Although the petroleum industry is very beneficial to society, this industry also produces a lot of hazardous waste. Furthermore, one of the liquid waste such as oil spills caused environmental problems during the exploration, transportation, and refining processes (Silva et al., 2014). The characteristics of crude oil in KW-58 well Cepu, Blora Regency, Central Java Province are that it has a high viscosity and low density. According to the author's data, the density of Wonocolo crude oil is 0.90323 g/mL at a temperature of 60°C and the viscosity of the oil is 8.23 cp at a temperature of 35.3°C. Manuscript received on August 31, 2021. Revised Manuscript received on September 07, 2021. Manuscript published on September 30, 2021. *Correspondence Author Harry Budiharjo Sulistyarso*, Associate Professor, Department of Petroleum Engineering, UPN “Veteran”,Yogyakarta. Joko Pamungkas, Lecturer, Department of Petroleum Engineering UPN “Veteran” Yogyakarta. Sri Rahayu Gusmarwani, Lecturer, Department of Chemical Engineering, STTNAS. Indah Widyaningsih, Lecturer, Department of Petroleum Engineering UPN “Veteran” Yogyakarta. Kevin Yudha Perwira. Department of Environmental Engineering, UPN "Veteran" Yogyakarta. © The Authors. Published by Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering and Sciences Publication (BEIESP). This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) The oil is only found on the soil surface due to poor infiltration power. This can be due to high oil viscosity and high soil porosity. Previous research (Bada et al., 2012) explained the dangers of soil contamination by oil spills on abiotic and biotic components. TPH levels in the soil can affect soil fertility and affect vegetation in the long term. This statement fructifies the requirement for oil- contaminated remediation in the soil contaminated to remove the oil content. U-champ is a biosurfactant that can reduce TPH levels from polluted soil. U-champ can work as a soil washer which will dissolve TPH in polluted soil and carried away as leachate. U-champ is extracted from microorganisms that live in the digestive system of cows. Based on the previous study (Sulistyarso et al., 2019), U- champ is proved to be effective to reduce TPH and heavy metals in the soil. This study aims to test a new formula in the use of U-champ and test its bioavailability by evaluating the density parameters of the growing weeds. II. LITERATURE REVIEW The environment itself can degrade the pollutants that enter it, but often the load pollution in the environment is greater than the speed of the natural pollutant degradation process. As a result, pollutants will accumulate so that human intervention with existing technology is needed to overcome this pollution. Bioremediation becomes one of the technologies to restore contaminated earth soil petroleum hydrocarbons. In terms of cost and environmental sustainability, bioremediation is cheaper and environmentally friendly compared to the other environmental restoration methods (Kusumawati et al., 2015). The concept of bioremediation is to use living microorganisms to decrease or remove environmental hazards due to the accumulation of toxic material such as toxic wastes. Bioremediation gives an option to offers possibility to eliminate or create a variety of harmless contaminants using natural biological activities. Furthermore, to increase the effectiveness in bioremediation, it can also be done by conjunct it with various physical and chemical technologies to give a better result. Bioremediation functions on biodegradation, which functioning by complete demineralization of complex organic contaminants into a simpler compound as CO2, H2O, inorganic compounds, and cell proteins that are harmless for the environment (Speight & Arjoon, 2012). This makes bioremediation the best choice for dealing with organic waste such as petroleum waste (Balba et al., 1998). Surfactants are a product of microorganisms that have an amphiphilic molecule.