About this Research Topic
Surfactants are essential for a wide variety of biotechnological applications in areas of food, cosmetics, household cleaning products, agriculture, oil recovery, and environmental remediation. Despite great progress, there remain opportunities for research on metabolic engineering and bioproduction of microbial biosurfactants in terms of process efficiency and diversity of available compounds. Moreover, with the increasing demand for renewable, biodegradable ingredients, research must focus on improving the sustainability of surfactants and the shift away from sulfate-based and other non-renewable surfactants.
Currently, microbial biosurfactants are experiencing a remarkable renaissance. Increasing availability on a large-scale commercial level, such as sophorolipids (SL), manosyslyerithrol lipids (MEL), rhamnolipids (RL), and surfactin (derived from industrial fermentation of renewable raw materials), has facilitated research on their industrial applications. Research on glycolipid biosurfactant development and applications is also currently a major area of focus. Biosurfactants also offer great potential in overcoming environmental and sustainability issues - they are generally considered to be readily biodegradable, non-aqua-toxic, and produced from renewable raw materials.
The aim of this Research Topic is to present the current advances in biotechnology and applications of microbial biosurfactants to present a picture of the state of the art in science and technology in this field. The collection welcomes submissions related, but not limited, to:
• Commercial applications of biosurfactants
• Scale-up of biosurfactant production from research to industrial levels and techno-economic challenges
• Applications of biosurfactants in environmental remediation
• Biosurfactant production from renewable substrates, 'waste' valorization, and sustainability challenges
This Research Topic is linked to the second Biosurfactants International Conference 2022 which took place on from September 28th - 30th, 2022 in Stuttgart Hohenheim, Germany.
Currently, microbial biosurfactants are experiencing a remarkable renaissance. Increasing availability on a large-scale commercial level, such as sophorolipids (SL), manosyslyerithrol lipids (MEL), rhamnolipids (RL), and surfactin (derived from industrial fermentation of renewable raw materials), has facilitated research on their industrial applications. Research on glycolipid biosurfactant development and applications is also currently a major area of focus. Biosurfactants also offer great potential in overcoming environmental and sustainability issues - they are generally considered to be readily biodegradable, non-aqua-toxic, and produced from renewable raw materials.
The aim of this Research Topic is to present the current advances in biotechnology and applications of microbial biosurfactants to present a picture of the state of the art in science and technology in this field. The collection welcomes submissions related, but not limited, to:
• Commercial applications of biosurfactants
• Scale-up of biosurfactant production from research to industrial levels and techno-economic challenges
• Applications of biosurfactants in environmental remediation
• Biosurfactant production from renewable substrates, 'waste' valorization, and sustainability challenges
This Research Topic is linked to the second Biosurfactants International Conference 2022 which took place on from September 28th - 30th, 2022 in Stuttgart Hohenheim, Germany.
Keywords: biosurfactants
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
