Abstract
Petroleum hydrocarbons are energy resources that majorly contribute pollutants to the environment. These pollutants may cause serious health issues, and hence, for the regulation of these contaminants, the development of sustainable alternative technologies has been considered, without causing further harm to the environment. One such alternative is biosurfactants (having low toxicity and being biodegradable) produced by numerous microbial species that have a tendency to remediate organic pollutants. Biosurfactants are amphiphilic compounds that are categorized into two types based on their molecular mass. Biosurfactants can be generated extracellularly or as a part of the cell membrane of microorganisms (bacteria, fungi, and algae). This review provides a detailed view of the types of biosurfactants, their properties, and the mechanism involved in the degradation of oil spills.
Highlights
Organic compounds are utilized extensively in the industrial and agricultural sectors (Bhatt et al, 2021)
Various reports are available on the impact of organic pollutants, which appear as carcinogens and mutagens in nature, on human health (Yoshikawa et al, 2017)
Another study showed that rhamnolipid, a biosurfactant produced by Pseudomonas aeruginosa, significantly decreases water surface tension as compared to the other surfactants (Kim et al, 2015)
Summary
Organic compounds are utilized extensively in the industrial and agricultural sectors (Bhatt et al, 2021). The surfactant in the mixture of water and oil will lie at the water– oil interface, which provided foaming, detergency, emulsifying, and dispersing capacities that make it a suitable material for remediation (Saenz-Marta et al, 2015). Biosurfactants are divided into two types based on molecular weight: low-molecular-weight compounds that have lower interfacial surface tension and high-molecular-weight biosurfactants that are the most efficient stabilizing agents.
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