What are biosurfactants

Microbial surface active agents. Capable of changing surface active phenomena as lowering of surface & interfacial tensions, Other functions.

Characteristics of biosurfactants
Biodegradability. Low toxicity. Biocompatibility. Cheaper raw materials. Production economics. Application in environmental control. Specificity Effectiveness at extreme conditions.

Classification of biosurfactants
According to- 1. structure 2. source . According to source- Enzyme synthesized - Microbial synthesized

Biosurfactants produced by prokaryotic cells

Rhamnose lipids Produced by carbon sources-glycerol,ethanol,fructose,glucose,nalkanes,vegetable oils wastes mollases pollutants- phenanthrene waste vehicle oil Lowest interfacial tension 0.2 mN/m Good emulsifiers Used for removal of copper and zinc

Other lipids

Trehalose lipids. Glucose lipids. Sucrose lipids. Ornithin containing lipids. Surfactin Pentasaccharide lipids. Exopolysaccharide bioemulsifiers
High affinity for oil water interface Emulsan-Acinetobacter calcoaeticus RAG-1

Other biosurfactants.

Biosurfactants by Eukaryotic cells

Yeast biosurfactants 1. Sophorose lipids- C. bombicola,C.
apicola,C.gropengiesseri
Linked by lactonic bond to sat or unsat FA Sources palmoil,rapeseed,linseed,safflower,soybean,animal fats yielding higher than 340g/litre. Novel sophorose lipids from C. bombicola using dodecanols.

2. Mannosylerythrotol lipids
C.antartica , total lipids reached 40g/litre Reduces surface tension against n-tetradecane to 28mN/m.

Enzyme synthesized biosurfactants

Advantages- low energy requirement,minimal thrmal
degradation,high biodegradability,high regioselectivity.
Different routes for enzymatic synthesis of glycolipids Glycolipid synthesis via sugar acetals, alkyl glycosides and glycosidase catalysis. High production cost but low recovery cost.

Disadvantage
High enzyme costs, difficulty in solubilizing hydrophilic and hydrophobic substrates.

Biosurfactant production methods

1. Cell growth associated production.
Optimization of medium composition, environmental factors, reagents addition for change in cell wall permeability, or detachment of cellwall bounded biosurfactants or induction by using lipophilic substrates.

2. Production by Growing cells under growth limiting conditions.

Production under N limitation of N, multivalent cations,growth limiting environmental conditions.

3. Production by resting cells

Production by resting free cells, resting immobilized cells, immobilized cells with product removal Growing in prescence of precursors.

Media formulation
Carbon source :
N alkane or vegetable oil Psuedomonas in rhamnolipid production. Mixture of CH & hydrocarbons-Candida in sophorose lipids
Whey concentrate & rapeseed oil Candida bombicola.

 Nitrogen source:
Nitrogen exhausion- increased rhamnolipid & Sophorose production. C/N ratio- controls production Nitrate maximum production in Rhodococcus sp

Phosphate source :
Phosphate reduction caused increased production. Iron and manganese salts : Increased surfactin yield in B. subtilis. Experimental conditions-pH , temperature, DO, ionic strength Oxygen limited conditions 3 fold higher yield by Bacillus & psuedomonas. Inexpensive substrate P.aeruginosa GS3 rhamnolipid production- molasses as C source and corn steep liquor as N source.

Fermentation
Batch /continuous fermentations Air lift fermentors, aqueous 2 phase fermentors Solid state fermentations 2 stage fed batch fermentors

Product recovery
Depends on ionic charge and solubility in water, whether extracellular or cell bound.
Solvent extraction commonly used for purification using chloroform, methanol, acetic acid, ether , ethylacetate etc. Precipitation, Organic extraction, adsorption chromatography used Concentration technique- water soluble surfactant Methanol precipitation- biosurfactant from Nocardia sp Acidification and chloroform/methanol extraction rhamnolipids by Pseudomonas sp. Ultracentrifugation and isoelectric precipitation surfactin by B. subtilis. Foam fractionation- lichenysin production by B. licheniformis.

Applications
Metals industry Paper industry Paint and protective coating Petroleum products Textiles Building and construction Agriculture Plastics Food and beverages Industrial cleaning Cosmetics and pharmaceuticals Pollution control.