Microbial Biosurfactants: Properties, Types, and Production

Abstract

Surfactants are surface active agents that reduce the surface tension between immiscible phases. They are amphiphilic molecules which can be produced by chemical and biological methods. Compared with chemical surfactants with the same functionality, biosurfactants have advantages such as being able to operate under extreme temperature, pH and salinity conditions, being non-toxic or very low toxic and biodegradable. In addition, since they are of biological origin, they can be produced from renewable substrates and structurally modified by genetic engineering and biochemical methods, and they can reach different markets with innovative formulations. Recently, interest in biological surfactants has increased considerably. With their unique physicochemical properties and various biological activities, they have application areas in detergent, cosmetics, medicine, food, bioremediation and agriculture sectors. However, despite the huge market demand, the production of biosurfactants is not as competitive as their synthetic counterparts. In order to improve biosurfactant production, different parameters should be considered. In this review, the types of biosurfactants and the factors affecting microbial biosurfactant production are discussed.

Keywords

• Biosurfactants
• rhamnolipid
• fermentation
• sophorolipid
• surfactin

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