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Microbial biosurfactants: A broad analysis of properties, applications, biosynthesis, and techno‐economical assessment of rhamnolipid production
Author(s) -
Moutinho Liza Fernandes,
Moura Felipe Ramalho,
Silvestre Rackel Carvalho,
RomãoDumaresq Aline Silva
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
biotechnology progress
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.572
H-Index - 129
eISSN - 1520-6033
pISSN - 8756-7938
DOI - 10.1002/btpr.3093
Subject(s) - biochemical engineering , metabolic engineering , surfactin , production (economics) , microbiology and biotechnology , petrochemical , chemistry , environmental science , engineering , biology , biochemistry , environmental engineering , bacteria , macroeconomics , bacillus subtilis , economics , genetics , enzyme
Biosurfactants are surface‐active molecules originated from renewable resources, which are produced by microbial fermentation or chemical/enzymatic catalysis. These molecules present important advantages as compared to petrochemical surfactants, given their resistance to extreme conditions, biodegradability, specificity, and environmental compatibility. Besides that, the high production costs hinder its commercialization. In this way, this article aimed to analyze microbial biosurfactants production, focusing on the optimization of metabolic pathways and production processes, to identify key aspects and provide alternatives to allow a cost‐effective production at industrial scale. This was achieved by a broad analysis of biosurfactants properties, applications, and biosynthetic pathways (in terms of yield, cofactors, and energy), in addition to an assessment of production‐associated costs. As a result of the present extensive data survey and analysis, key production aspects are disclosed. The metabolic pathway yield analysis demonstrated that production of biosurfactants can be significantly improved (highest theoretical yield was 0.47 g biosurfactant /g substrate ) by the use of biomolecular engineering techniques to generate optimized synthetic pathways. With an alternative proposed pathway for surfactin, yield was improved and imbalance in cofactors and ATP was reduced. Analysis of productive costs indicated that to make rhamnolipids commercial production feasible, the main efforts should focus on lowering substrate costs as well as the identification of energy‐efficient unit operations to lower electricity cost, since these parameters accounted for 19.36 and 78.22%, respectively, of the production costs. The data generated by this analysis highlight the need for multidisciplinary collaboration to make rhamnolipids economically feasible, including biomolecular engineering and process intensification.