What is the use of biosurfactants?

Biosurfactants are surface active molecules that have several applications in petrochemical, food and cosmetics industries, besides an important role in environmental protection, oil spills control, biodegradation, and detoxification of oil contaminated industrial effluents and soil (Khopade et al., 2012).

How biosurfactant work?

Biosurfactants are amphiphilic compounds produced in living surfaces, mostly on microbial cell surfaces or excreted extracellular hydrophobic and hydrophilic moieties that confer the ability to accumulate between fluid phases, thus reducing surface and interfacial tension at the surface and interface respectively [1].

How is biosurfactant produced?

Biosurfactant production from marine hydrocarbon-degrading consortia and pure bacterial strains using crude oil as carbon source. Biosurfactants (BSs) are “green” amphiphilic molecules produced by microorganisms during biodegradation, increasing the bioavailability of organic pollutants.

What are Rhamnolipids used for?

Rhamnolipids are particularly important in swarming motility where they are postulated to lower the surface tension of the surface through their surfactant properties, allowing the bacterial cell to swarm.

What is Bioaugmentation used for?

Bioaugmentation is used to biodegrade specific soil and groundwater contaminants. It involves adding cultured microorganisms into the subsurface to biodegrade the desired contaminants. In many cases, these microorganisms are “specialists” in degrading specific target contaminants.

What are biosurfactant producing bacteria?

The 34 isolates associated with Bacillus, Streptomyces, Microbacterium, Micrococcus, Rhodococcus, Pseudomonas, Arthrobacter and Staphylococcus genera retrieved from the three oil wells were identified as biosurfactant-producing bacteria using the oil–spreading and the drop collapse methods (Table 2).

What is biosurfactant producing bacteria?

Biosurfactants are surface-active biomolecules produced by microbes (bacteria, fungi, and yeast) and have several advantages over the chemical surfactants, such as lower toxicity, higher biodegradability, better environmental compatibility, higher foaming, high selectivity, and specific activity under extreme …

Why do bacteria produce biosurfactants?

Is Rhamnolipid a Biosurfactant?

Among the various categories of biosurfactants the glycolipid biosurfactants “rhamnolipids” stand apart. Rhamnolipid, primarily a crystalline acid, is composed of β-hydroxy fatty acid connected by the carboxyl end to a rhamnose sugar molecule.

What are the advantages of bioremediation?

Environmentally friendly and cost effective are among the major advantages of bioremediation compared to both chemical and physical methods of remediation. A mechanism of bioremediation is to reduce, detoxify, degrade, mineralize or transform more toxic pollutants to a less toxic.

Who invented bioaugmentation?

Bioremediation technology using microorganisms was reportedly invented by George M. Robinson. He was the assistant county petroleum engineer for Santa Maria, California. During the 1960s, he spent his spare time experimenting with dirty jars and various mixes of microbes.

Are there any industrial applications for biosurfactants?

The applications of biosurfactants however, are still at the developmental stage of industrial level. The development of biosurfactant application in industries is focused mainly on high biosurfactant production yield and the production of highly active biosurfactants with specific properties for specific applications.

What are the factors that influence the production of biosurfactants?

Factors influencing biosurfactants production are the nature of the carbon source, nitrogen source, the C:N Ratio, temperature, aeration and pH. Biosurfactants have several applications in agriculture, industry, medicine and the petroleum sectors.

How are surfactants used in the agricultural industry?

Also in agriculture, surfactants are used for hydrophilization of heavy soils to obtain good wettability and to achieve even distribution of fertilizer in the soil. They also prevent the caking of certain fertilizer during storage and promote spreading and penetration of the toxicants in pesticides.

How are microbial surfactants produced in living spaces?

Microbial surfactants (Biosurfactants) are amphiphilic compounds produced in living spaces or excreted extracellular hydrophobic and hydrophilic moieties that confer on the organism the ability to accumulate between fluid phases thus reducing surface and interfacial tension.