BIOSURFACTANTSBIOSURFACTANTS ( RHAMNOLIPIDS )( RHAMNOLIPIDS )

OUTLINEOUTLINE

• Definition of Biosurfactants• Microbes that Produce Biosurfactants• Rhamnolipids• Production method• Current Applications of Biosurfactants• Future Applications of Biosurfactants• Conclusion

WHAT IS A BIOSURFACTANT?WHAT IS A BIOSURFACTANT?

PROBLEM DESCRIPTION & MARKET NEEDPROBLEM DESCRIPTION & MARKET NEED

Nowadays surfactants are one of the most important substances for many fields of industry - pharmacy, food industry, design of washing agents, petroleum industry, agriculture, environmental protection and remediation

An excessive use of chemical surfactants leads to technogenic load on environment, flora and fauna, affects on food products

Biosurfactants can satisfy the needs of the modern market in natural products, particularly surface-active substances of new generation (effective and ecologically safe)

CLASSIFICATION OF BIOSURFACTANTSCLASSIFICATION OF BIOSURFACTANTS

MICROBES THAT PRODUCE BIOSURFACTANTS

RHAMNOLIPIDSRHAMNOLIPIDS

Rhamnolipids are naturally occurring glycolipid produced commercially by the Pseudomonas aeruginosa species of bacteria. There are two types:

1.mono- rhamnolipids 2.di- rhamnolipids 

PHYSIOLOGICAL FUNCTIONS AND ROLES PHYSIOLOGICAL FUNCTIONS AND ROLES OF RHAMNOLIPIDSOF RHAMNOLIPIDS(Why interest for commercial use?)(Why interest for commercial use?)

• RLs promote the uptake and biodegradation of poorly soluble substrates

• RLs as immune modulators and virulence factors

• RLs as antimicrobials• RLs in surface motility• RLs in biofilm development

PRODUCTION METHODPRODUCTION METHOD

FACTORS AFFECTING BIOSURFACTANT FACTORS AFFECTING BIOSURFACTANT PRODUCTIONPRODUCTION

• Presence of pesticides• Soil nutrients• Soil pH• Soil salinity• Soil temperature

Use of inexpensive raw materials for the production of biosurfactants Use of inexpensive raw materials for the production of biosurfactants by various microbial strainsby various microbial strains

Yields of rhamnolipids related to biomass (Yp/x) for fermentations by Pseudomonas aeruginosa with different C/N ratios.

METHODS OF DETECTION AND ANALYSIS

CURRENT APPLICATIONS OF CURRENT APPLICATIONS OF BIOSURFACTANTSBIOSURFACTANTS

INDUSTRIAL APPLICATIONS INDUSTRIAL APPLICATIONS

Industry Application Role of biosurfactants

Petroleum Enhanced oil recovery Lowering of interfacial tension, dissolving of oil

Environmental Bioremediation Lowering of interfacial tension

Food Emulsification and de-emulsification

Solubilizer, demulsifier, suspension, wetting, foaming

Bioprocessing Downstream processing Microemulsions, biotransformation,

Cosmetic Health and beauty products Foaming agents, solubilizers, wetting agents, cleansers

Biological Microbiological Cell–cell competition, plant and animal pathogenesis

Pharmaceutical and therapeutics

Antibacterial, antifungal

Agricultural Biocontrol Parasitism, antibiosis, competition, hypovirulence

MICROBIAL ENHANCED OIL RECOVERYMICROBIAL ENHANCED OIL RECOVERY

A series of microscopic photos shows the Process with live microbes surrounding a droplet of crude oil, distorting its shape and finally causing a smaller droplet to break away.

http://www.titanoilrecovery.com/pdfs/TitanBrochure.pdf

CASE STUDY: BEATRICE FIELD, ENGLANDCASE STUDY: BEATRICE FIELD, ENGLAND

• Field was scheduled to be abandoned in‘95-’96

• British Petroleum applied MEOR in1995

• There was a 25% increase over the 3-year production schedule

http://www.titanoilrecovery.com/pdfs/TitanBrochure.pdf

FUTURE APPLICATIONS FUTURE APPLICATIONS

CURRENT DIRECTIONS OF R&DCURRENT DIRECTIONS OF R&D

BioengineeringBioengineering Biosynthesis and studying of microbial enzymes and their compositions. Investigation of synthesis of biosurfactants, their properties and application

in biomedicine, agriculture, food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industry.

Chemistry/ MaterialsChemistry/ Materials Creation and investigation of new polymeric materials.

ChemistryChemistry Investigation of catalytic oxidation of hydrocarbon derivatives.

Chemical/Environmental EngineeringChemical/Environmental Engineering Development of methods of bioremediation of water and soil. Emulsification of HC’s (adherence), lowering interfacial tension, metal

sequestration, dispersion, foaming agent, Monitoring of petroleum-contaminated water and soil.

CURRENT BIOREMEDIATION METHODSCURRENT BIOREMEDIATION METHODS

• In situ soil flushing• Ex situ washing• Heavy metal sequestration

Rhamnolipids are mostly used.

AROMATICS BIODEGRADATION DIESEL AROMATICS BIODEGRADATION DIESEL FUELFUEL

Biodegradability of diesel fuel at the on-site soil pile

ADVANTAGESADVANTAGES

Recovery of pure Rhamnolipids without antifoam contamination for use in ecological washing and cleaning agents or cosmetics

Reuse of cells by repeated batch-process leads to an economic and high-yield production of Rhamnolipids

Use of renewable sources (e.g. vegetable oils) instead of petroleum-based chemicals

Possibility to recover rhamnose sugar by direct hydrolysis of the crude product, e.g. for furaneol synthesis or use as flavors

CONCLUSION CONCLUSION

Lower yields. Still more expensive than chemical surfactants. Process and production optimization needs to be improved. Cheaper substrates + optimal growth and production conditions +

novel efficient multi-step downstream + recombinant and mutant hyper producing microbial strains

Future applications as: - fine specialty chemicals - biological control agents, - new generation molecules for pharmaceutical, cosmetic and health

care industries. Ecofriendly synthesis of silver nanoparticles and stabilizer before

addition. Ecofriendly product for flocculation and dispersion of high solid

contents of micro particles.

REFERENCESREFERENCES

Olivera, N.L., Commendatore, M.G., Moran, A.C. and Esteves J.L. 2000. Biosurfactant-enhanced degradation of residual hydrocarbons from ship bilge wastes, Journal of Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology 25: 70-73

Mulligan, C.N., Environmental applications for biosurfactants. Environmental Pollution 133: 183–198

Schippers, C., Gener, K., Muller, T. and Scheper, T. (2000) Microbial degradation of phenanthrene by addition of a sophorolipid mixture, Journal of Biotechnology 83:189-198

Tecon, R. and van der Meer J.R. .2009. Effect of two types of biosurfactants on phenanthrene availability to the bacterial bioreporter Burkholderia sartisoli strain RP037. App. Microbiol Biotech- online DOI 10.1007/s00253-009-2216-0

Muthusamy, K., Gopalakrishnan S., Ravi, T.K. and Sivachidambaram, P. 2008. Biosurfactants: Properties, commercial production and application. Review Article. Current Science 94- 6: 736-747

Kosaric, N., 2001. Biosurfactants and their application for soil bioremediation. Food Technol. Biotechnol., 39:295-304.

Qinhong Wang, Xiangdong Fang, Baojun Bai, Xiaolin Liang, Patrick J. Shuler, William A. Goddard III, Yongchun Tang Received 23 January 2007; revision received 5 April 2007; accepted 6 April 2007 DOI 10.1002/bit.21462