Biosurfactant suitability for enhanced oil recovery was carried through using 60.0 g of beach sand impregnated with 5.0 mL of motor oil. The biosurfactant produced by C. sphaerica cultivated in the distilled water supplemented with 9% refinery residue plus 9% corn steep liquor was used in the removal tests. Fractions of 20.0 g of the contaminated Brazilian standard NBR 7214(Brazilian Association of Technical Standards, 1982) and beach sand was transferred to 250 mL Erlenmeyer flasks, which were submitted to the following treatments: addition of 40 mL of the cell-free-broth and addition of 40.0 mL distilled water (control). The samples were incubated on a rotary shaker (150 rpm) for 24 h at 27°C and then were centrifuged at 5000g for 10 min for separation of the laundering solution and the sand. The amount of oil residing in the sand after the action of biosurfactant was gravimetrically determined as the amount of material extracted from the sand by hexane