Chapter 1
A Review on Production, Properties,
and Applications of Microbial Surfactants
as a Promising Biomolecule
for Environmental Applications
Kidist Mulugeta, M. Kamaraj , Mesfin Tafesse, and J. Aravind
Abstract Biosurfactants are molecular compounds of the surface-active groupcontaining hydrophobic and hydrophilic moieties in one single molecule that dispenses themselves among two immiscible fluids, and these are usually harnessed
with the aid of microorganisms and are considered environmentally friendly. The
production of microbial biosurfactants is regarded as one of the key developments in
the twenty-first century due to its importance and implementations in the industrial
process. The biosurfactants have several benefits over chemical surfactants, such as a
higher degree of biodegradability, foaming, selectivity, and specific activity. Microbial surfactants can be labeled as “green” because of their less toxicity, coupled with
better environmental compatibility, working amicably on a wide range of physicochemical environments, and also contribution to limiting the greenhouse effect.
Hence, biosurfactants are expected to be promising alternatives for synthetic surfactants for industrial, environmental, and domestic applications soon. Notably, the
biosurfactants exhibit competent and feasible applications in different environmental
avenue, such as bioremediation, oil, and petroleum recovery, expelling pollutants,
wastewater treatment, etc. Although possessing potential applications with diverse
characteristics and properties over synthetic surfactants, biosurfactants are not able
to compete with synthetic molecules due to their limitations, such as high production
cost, less production yield, bioreactor design and its related complications, inefficient downstream processes, limited availability of substrate, etc. These precincts
can overcome with the development of better reactor design, product recovery
technology, ecologically and environmentally favored media, and decreased
K. Mulugeta · M. Kamaraj (*) · M. Tafesse
Department of Biotechnology, College of Biological and Chemical Engineering, Addis Ababa
Science and Technology University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Bioprocess and Biotechnology Center of Excellence, Addis Ababa Science and Technology
University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
J. Aravind
Department of Civil Engineering- Environmental Engineering, Dhirajlal Gandhi College
of Technology, Omalur, Tamil Nadu, India
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
J. Aravind et al. (eds.), Strategies and Tools for Pollutant Mitigation,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-63575-6_1
3
A Review on Production, Properties,
and Applications of Microbial Surfactants
as a Promising Biomolecule
for Environmental Applications
Kidist Mulugeta, M. Kamaraj , Mesfin Tafesse, and J. Aravind
Abstract Biosurfactants are molecular compounds of the surface-active groupcontaining hydrophobic and hydrophilic moieties in one single molecule that dispenses themselves among two immiscible fluids, and these are usually harnessed
with the aid of microorganisms and are considered environmentally friendly. The
production of microbial biosurfactants is regarded as one of the key developments in
the twenty-first century due to its importance and implementations in the industrial
process. The biosurfactants have several benefits over chemical surfactants, such as a
higher degree of biodegradability, foaming, selectivity, and specific activity. Microbial surfactants can be labeled as “green” because of their less toxicity, coupled with
better environmental compatibility, working amicably on a wide range of physicochemical environments, and also contribution to limiting the greenhouse effect.
Hence, biosurfactants are expected to be promising alternatives for synthetic surfactants for industrial, environmental, and domestic applications soon. Notably, the
biosurfactants exhibit competent and feasible applications in different environmental
avenue, such as bioremediation, oil, and petroleum recovery, expelling pollutants,
wastewater treatment, etc. Although possessing potential applications with diverse
characteristics and properties over synthetic surfactants, biosurfactants are not able
to compete with synthetic molecules due to their limitations, such as high production
cost, less production yield, bioreactor design and its related complications, inefficient downstream processes, limited availability of substrate, etc. These precincts
can overcome with the development of better reactor design, product recovery
technology, ecologically and environmentally favored media, and decreased
K. Mulugeta · M. Kamaraj (*) · M. Tafesse
Department of Biotechnology, College of Biological and Chemical Engineering, Addis Ababa
Science and Technology University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Bioprocess and Biotechnology Center of Excellence, Addis Ababa Science and Technology
University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
J. Aravind
Department of Civil Engineering- Environmental Engineering, Dhirajlal Gandhi College
of Technology, Omalur, Tamil Nadu, India
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
J. Aravind et al. (eds.), Strategies and Tools for Pollutant Mitigation,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-63575-6_1
3