Microbial Surfactants

Biosurfactants are the surface-active biomolecules produced by microorganisms. In recent years, biosurfactants have gained commercial significance due to their unique properties, such as high surface activity, high specificity, low toxicity, tolerance to pH, temperature and ionic strength, biodegradability, excellent emulsifying and demulsifying ability, antimicrobial activity, ability to work under extreme conditions, and relative ease of preparation. Biosurfactants are used in several industries including organic chemicals, petroleum, petrochemicals, mining, metallurgy (mainly bioleaching), agrochemicals, fertilizers, foods, beverages, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and many others. Green surfactants, due to their amphiphatic structure promotes seed germination, exhibit biocontrol activity by inhibition of phytopathogen and including systemic resistance in plants and also play a significant role in bioremediation of pollutants. Green surfactants are less toxic, more eco-friendly and have significant application in agriculture.The aim of this book is to highlight key aspects from basics to advanced concepts, classifications, production and applications in various fields such as agriculture, health, bioremediation, industries, pharmaceutical, oil recovery, environment, nanotechnology. It also serves as an excellent and expensive literature on fermentation, recovery, genomics and metagenomics of biosurfactant production. The book focuses on the biosurfactant production from bacteria, the diversity of biosurfactant producing bacteria, and industrial need of biosurfactant.