Biosurfactants: Potential and Eco-Friendly Material for Sustainable Agriculture and Environmental Safety—A Review

Abstract

With the present climate change and increasing world population, there is an urgent need to discover creative, efficient, and cost-effective natural products for the benefit of humanity. Biosurfactants are produced by various microorganisms that have several distinct properties compared to other synthetic surfactants, including mild production conditions, multifunctionality, higher biodegradability, and lower toxicity of living cells synthesis of active compounds. Due to their surface tension reducing, emulsion stabilizing, and biodegrading properties of these in place of chemical surfactants, they are generating huge demand in terms of research and usage. Biosurfactants are widely used in the food industry as food-formulation ingredients and antiadhesive agents as emulsifiers, de-emulsifiers, spreading agents, foaming agents, and detergents that find application in various fields such as agriculture, industrial sectors, and environmental recreation. Recent research focused more on heavy metal bioremediation from compost was achieved using biosurfactants-producing bacteria, which resulted in an improvement in compost quality. Although a number of studies on biosurfactants synthesis have been reported, very limited information on its cinematics and the consumption of renewable substrates are available. In this review paper, we made an attempt to critically review biosurfactants, their usage, research related to them, and challenges faced.

Biosurfactant from Bacillus subtilis DS03: Properties and Application in Cleaning Out Place System in a Pilot Sausages Processing

“…The food industries remove biofilms with diverse methods, including biological techniques (e.g., bacteriophages, anti-biofilms enzymes, lactic acid bacteria bacteriocins) [ 4 ], biosurfactants (e.g., lipopeptides) [ 5 ], and physical techniques (e.g., plasma) [ 6 ]. BS are new, friendly ecological compounds gaining interest in the industry and academia as an alternative to the traditional synthetic surfactants [ 7 ].…”

Conventional and non-conventional disinfection methods to prevent microbial contamination in minimally processed fruits and vegetables

“…These compounds have surface activities, helping reduce interfacial tension and producing detergency and emulsifying properties. MS are new friendly-ecological surfactants and biodegradable molecules with low toxicity, which could be used as cleansers, sanitizers, emulsifiers, pesticides, and detergents ( Gayathiri et al, 2022 ). MS can also be obtained from the different microbial genera, including Bacillus , Pseudomonas , Rhodococcus, and Candida .…”

Theranostic efficiency of biosurfactants against COVID-19 and similar viruses - A review

“…The entrapment of compounds like heavy metals and xenobiotics, along with the reduction in biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) in the water treatment process, leads to a reduction in pathogenic microbial populations. An amalgamation of bacteria producing BSs of broad-spectrum activity would be recognised as additional therapeutic option in waste water amenities [ 14 , 132 ].…”

“…The pesticides like dichloro diphenyl trichloro ethane (DDT) have concerns such as emergent insect resistance and environmental toxicity. Biosurfactants could be environment friendly and more effective, hence can replace the synthetic pesticides like DDT [ 15 , 132 ].…”

“…Many BSs (sophorolipids and rhamnolipids) based commercial products (for personal and household care) are available in the market by Evonik. BSs as green molecules (next-generation), can be explored for limiting the propagation of pathogens (both unknown and known) during the endemics and pandemics through competent hygiene [ 16 , 132 ].…”