Use of wastes for sophorolipids production as a transition to circular economy: state of the art and perspectives

Chemical processes and petroleum-based chemicals are being substituted by biological processes and bioproducts. Surfactants and biosurfactants are an example of this trend. Among the biosurfactants, sophorolipids (SLs) have excellent surface and interfacial tension properties, which make them ideal...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Reviews in environmental science and biotechnology 2019-09, Vol.18 (3), p.413-435
Main Authors: Jiménez-Peñalver, Pedro, Rodríguez, Alejandra, Daverey, Achlesh, Font, Xavier, Gea, Teresa
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution
Batch culture
Biological activity
Biosurfactants
By products
Byproducts
Chemical reactions
Circular economy
Earth and Environmental Science
Economics
Effluents
Environment
Environmental Engineering/Biotechnology
Fermentation
Low cost
Microbiology
Microorganisms
Mini Review
Oleic acid
Organic chemistry
Process variables
Solid state
Solid state fermentation
Substrates
Surface tension
Surfactants
Wastes
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Summary:Chemical processes and petroleum-based chemicals are being substituted by biological processes and bioproducts. Surfactants and biosurfactants are an example of this trend. Among the biosurfactants, sophorolipids (SLs) have excellent surface and interfacial tension properties, which make them ideal to be used in a wide variety of applications. SLs are produced at full scale through submerged fermentation of pure substrates (glucose and oleic acid). However, research trends suggest that there is a lot of interest to produce SLs from waste effluents and other low-cost substrates, both in submerged and solid-state fermentation processes. This study reviews the current research in the production of SLs via fermentation processes, focusing on those using wastes, by-products, or low-cost substrates (liquids or solids). It details the substrates, process variables, microorganisms, and use of supplementary media for batch, fed-batch, and continuous submerged or solid-state fermentation processes. Sophorolipids production based on industrial by-products and waste effluents presents huge potential for its application at an industrial scale in a more economical and environmentally friendly process, boosting the necessary change to circular economy.
ISSN:1569-1705
1572-9826
DOI:10.1007/s11157-019-09502-3