Sustainable biosurfactant production from secondary feedstock-recent advances, process optimization and perspectives

Yahui Miao; Ming Ho To; Muhammad Ahmar Siddiqui; Huaimin Wang; Sofie Lodens; Shauhrat S Chopra; Guneet Kaur; Sophie L K W Roelants; Carol Sze Ki Lin

doi:10.3389/fchem.2024.1327113

Sustainable biosurfactant production from secondary feedstock-recent advances, process optimization and perspectives

Front Chem. 2024 Jan 19:12:1327113. doi: 10.3389/fchem.2024.1327113. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Yahui Miao^#¹, Ming Ho To^#¹, Muhammad Ahmar Siddiqui^{1

2}, Huaimin Wang³, Sofie Lodens^{4

5}, Shauhrat S Chopra¹, Guneet Kaur⁶, Sophie L K W Roelants^{4

5}, Carol Sze Ki Lin¹

Affiliations

¹ School of Energy and Environment, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, China.
² Branch of Chinese National Engineering Research Center for Control and Treatment of Heavy Metal Pollution, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Kowloon, China.
³ McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering, Cockrell School of Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, United States.
⁴ Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant, Ghent, Belgium.
⁵ Centre for Industrial Biotechnology and Biocatalysis (InBio.be), Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
⁶ School of Engineering, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Biosurfactants have garnered increased attention lately due to their superiority of their properties over fossil-derived counterparts. While the cost of production remains a significant hurdle to surpass synthetic surfactants, biosurfactants have been anticipated to gain a larger market share in the coming decades. Among these, glycolipids, a type of low-molecular-weight biosurfactant, stand out for their efficacy in reducing surface and interfacial tension, which made them highly sought-after for various surfactant-related applications. Glycolipids are composed of hydrophilic carbohydrate moieties linked to hydrophobic fatty acid chains through ester bonds that mainly include rhamnolipids, trehalose lipids, sophorolipids, and mannosylerythritol lipids. This review highlights the current landscape of glycolipids and covers specific glycolipid productivity and the diverse range of products found in the global market. Applications such as bioremediation, food processing, petroleum refining, biomedical uses, and increasing agriculture output have been discussed. Additionally, the latest advancements in production cost reduction for glycolipid and the challenges of utilizing second-generation feedstocks for sustainable production are also thoroughly examined. Overall, this review proposes a balance between environmental advantages, economic viability, and societal benefits through the optimized integration of secondary feedstocks in biosurfactant production.

Keywords: biorefinery; biosurfactant; glycolipid; secondary feedstock; sustainability; valorization.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. The work described in this paper was fully supported by a grant from the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China (Project No. CityU 11219621) and a grant from the European Union-Hong Kong Research and Innovation Cooperation Co-funding Mechanism by the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China (Project No. E-CityU102/20). Also, this project has received funding from the Bio Based Industries Joint Undertaking (JU) under grant agreement No 101023664. The JU receives support from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme and the Bio Based Industries Consortium.