Biosurfactants: production, applications and future potential

Abstract

[Excerpt] Surfactants are one of the most important classes of industrial chemicals in terms of production volume. These compounds exhibit a wide variety of applications in several industries and are present in nearly every product and aspect of our daily life. They can be found in detergents, laundry formulations, household cleaning products, cosmetics, herbicides or pesticides, and are also used in bioremediation, agriculture, food, pharmaceutical, textile, paper or the petroleum industries, among others. Most conventional surfactants available nowadays are derived from non-renewable resources and their use may lead to significant ecological problems due to their toxicity and low biodegradability. In the recent years, an increase in environmental awareness has led to much more interest in the use of renewablebased, biodegradable and more environmentally friendly surfactants. Among them biosurfactants, surface-active compounds synthesized by microorganisms, are attracting a pronounced interest due to their potential advantages over their synthetic counterparts, and to the fact that they could replace some of the synthetics in many environmental and industrial applications. [...]