Efficient Substrates for Microbial Synthesis of Biosurfactants

Abstract

Biosurfactants are surface active molecules which have the ability to lower the surface tension of liquids due to the molecules’ unique structure which contains both hydrophilic and hydrophobic regions. The economics of biosurfactant production may be significantly impacted through use of inexpensive carbon substrates. Microorganisms such as yeast, bacteria or fungi can produce biosurfactant surface active compounds using different substrates such as oils, glycerol, alkanes, sugars and wastes. In order to ensure that the production of biosurfactants is economical, low cost substrates with sufficient nutritional value need to be used. The production of biosurfactants with high value-added properties using low cost substrates is the central part of future research. Considering their vast potential for large fields of application, their development needs broad cooperation across disciplines in order to fully characterize and identify their potential uses. Reductions in the cost of biosurfactants which will make them economically attractive will depend largely on the development of cheaper processes, the use of low-cost raw materials, and increased product yields through low cost substrates. Presently, the production of biosurfactants is highly expensive due to the use of synthetic culture media. Therefore, greater emphasis is being laid on procurement of various cheap agro-industrial substrates including vegetable oils, distillery and dairy wastes, soya molasses, animal fat, waste and starchy waste as raw materials. These wastes can be used as substrates for large scale production of biosurfactants with advanced technology which is a matter for future research.