Biodegradability Study of the Biosurfactant Contained in a Crude Extract from Corn Steep Water

Abstract

Over the last few years, the global biosurfactants market has raised due to the increasing awareness among consumers for the use of biological or bio-based products. Because of its composition, it can be speculated that these are more biocompatible and more biodegradable than their chemical homologous. However, at the moment, there are no studies in the literature about the biodegradability of biosurfactants. In this work, a biosurfactant, obtained from a corn wet-milling industry stream, fermented spontaneously in presence of lactic acid bacteria, was subjected to a biodegradation study, without addition of external microbial biomass, under different conditions of temperature (5-45 ºC) and pH (5-7). The Box-Behnken factorial design allowed predicting the biodegradation percentage between the range of the dependent variables under study, obtaining values between 3 % and 80 %. Furthermore, it was also possible to predict the variation in t1/2 (time to achieve the 50 % of biodegradation) under different conditions.

Formulation of a Biodegradable Detergent for Cleaning Oily Residues Generated during Industrial Processes

“…The assessment of biodegradability is of fundamental importance before proposing the use of a compound since biocompatibility is one of the main criteria for an environmental application. In the same way as the formulation obtained in this work, other natural surfactants have also demonstrated biodegradability characteristics, such as the biosurfactant contained in a crude extract, obtained from a corn wet-milling industry stream that ferments spontaneously in the presence of lactic acid bacteria (Rodríguez-López et al, 2020).…”

“…Therefore, anionic and nonionic surfactants produce chronic toxicity to aquatic animals at concentrations over 0.01 g·L −1 , although in general, cationic surfactants are more toxic than anionic and nonionic ones (Singh et al, 2002). Moreover, under anaerobic conditions, compounds like alkyl benzene sulfonates (LAS), secondary alkane sulfonates, or cationic surfactants such as quaternary ammonium‐based compounds, are not biodegraded by the microorganisms (Rodríguez‐López et al, 2020).…”

Characterization and Cytotoxic Effect of Biosurfactants Obtained from Different Sources

“…This singular composition confers them advantageous properties such as better biodegradability or less toxicity, maintaining similar surface properties to their synthetic counterparts. 8 − 10 Some authors have catalogued biosurfactants as the molecules of the 21st century with multifunctional properties. 11 , 12 Nevertheless, their high production cost represents their main disadvantage.…”

Synthetic and Bio-Derived Surfactants Versus Microbial Biosurfactants in the Cosmetic Industry: An Overview

“…This is a challenge, since immediate microbial biosurfactant biodegradation would not be desirable before realizing their role in the cosmetic formulation. For that reason, Rodríguez-López et al [ 143 ] recently studied the biodegradability of a lipopeptide microbial biosurfactant, from corn steep liquor, under different environmental conditions, without the addition of external microbial biomass. They found that the t 1/2 of this microbial biosurfactant (time to achieve 50% of biodegradation) was no lower than 35 days at pH 5.…”