Biosurfactants Future Trends and Challenges - Biosurfactants: Research Trends and Applications - page 320

TABLE 12.3
Industrial Production of Biosurfactants

Company Products and Applications

Agae Technologies (USA) R95, an HPLC grade rhamnolipid, most likely

from glycerol

Jeneil Biotechnology (USA) Various concentrations of rhamnolipid (2%-99%

pure), ZONIX rhamnolipid as biofongicide,
RECO for oil recovery from storage tanks

Fraunhofer IGB (Germany) Glycolipids, cellobiose lipids, MELS

Cognis (USA and Germany) Glycolipids, cellobiose lipids, MELS

Ecover (Belgium) Sophorolipids

Saraya Co. Ltd. (Japan) Sophorolipids from palm oil

MG Intobio (South Korea) Sophorolipids for soaps for acne

Groupe Soliance (France) Sophorolipids from rapeseed for skin care

Paradigm Biomedical (USA) Pharmaceuticals from rhamnolipids

Sources: Adapted from Marchant, R. and Banat, I.M., Biotechnol. Lett ., 34, 1597,
2012; Sekhon, K.K. et al., Petrol. Environ. Biotechnol ., 3, 11, 2012.

Surfactant effectiveness will have a substantial influence on future commercial-
ization. Mulligan and Gibbs (1993) indicated that the CMC of most biosurfactants is
in the range of 1-2000 mg/L. If a surfactant costs $1/kg with a CMC of 8 mM, then
a biosurfactant of CMC 0.01 mM and costs $20/kg would be less expensive to use.
Sophorolipids and MELS can be produced at high concentrations (Kitamoto
et al., 2001), whereas rhamnolipids are produced in the range of 10-20 g/L.
Despite this, rhamnolipids are produced by Jeneil Biotechnology, Milwaukee, USA
(www.jeneilbiotech.com). AGAE Technologies (www.agaetech.com) also produces
rhamnolipids and recently announced that their proprietary rhamnolipid biosur-
factant has application for the prevention and cure of various superbug infections.
A summary is shown in Table 12.3.
Various properties can influence economics, such as biodegradability, toxicity and
temperature, salt, and pH stability. Adsorption during surfactant flushing in enhanced
oil recovery or environmental applications will decrease surfactant effectiveness.

CONCLUSION
The research in the field of biosurfactants is advancing rapidly and it encompasses
fields as diverse as medicine, surface science, organic chemistry, molecular biology,
etc. Thus, there is a remarkable increase in the applications of biosurfactants and
hence the need for its increased production. Traditional chemical synthesis meth-
ods raise concerns about toxicity and environmental impact. This favors the switch
to more sustainable synthesis options. Biosurfactants that are produced from envi-
ronmentally renewable resources are preferred as they use low-temperature, cost-
effective methods, retain sustainability, and generate minimum waste. Methods for
recovery of biosurfactants must be modified to reduce the problem of environmentally