Rapid screening of surfactant and biosurfactant surface cleaning performance

Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) and rubisco protein stain were used as tools to screen the effectiveness of detergent formulations in cleaning a protein stain from solid surfaces. Surfactant and biosurfactant-based formulations, with and without added protease, were screened for cleaning performance. Enzyme-free detergent formulations at 1500 ppm total surfactant were insufficient to cause complete surface cleaning, despite the high concentration of surfactant. The cleaning performance of a “home-made” formulation containing 2 ppm subtilisin A (SA) and 2 ppm sodium dodecyl benzyl sulphonate (SDOBS) was as efficient as the best amongst the three enzyme-free 1500 ppm formulations. The cleaning performance of 2 ppm SA in the absence of SDOBS was less effective than the combined formulation, even though 2 ppm SDOBS alone did not cause any protein removal. The observed synergistic performance was attributed to the cooperative mechanisms (chemical and physical attack) by which these two agents act on a rubisco stain. Replacing SDOBS in the enzyme-surfactant formulation with the same amount of surfactin biosurfactant (2 ppm) gave the best rubisco removal of all formulations examined in this study, irrespective of the surface chemistry underlying the protein film. It was found that 75% and 80% of immobilised rubisco stain could be removed from hydrophobic and hydrophilic surfaces, respectively, by the biosurfactant-SA formulation (compared with 60% and 65%, respectively, using the SDOBS-SA formulation). Our results suggest that it may be possible to generate fully renewable biochemical-based cleaning formulations that have superior cleaning performance to existing technologies. In developing optimised formulations, there is a pressing need for chip-based tools similar to that developed in this research.