MicrobialOrigin, Classification and Application of Biosurfactant

Biosurfactant and microbial surface-active biomolecules that are produced by a variety of micro-organism, which vary in their chemical properties and molecular size. While the low molecular-mass surfactant are often glycolipids, phospholipids and lipopeptides and into high-molecular-mass biosurfactant/bioemulsifier containing amphipathic polysaccharides, proteins, lipopolysaacharides, lipoprotein or complex mixtures of these biopolymers. Biosurfactant have gained importance in the fields of enhanced oil recovery, environmental bioremediation, food processing, pharmaceuticals and agricultural sector owing to their unique properties such as higher biodegradability and lower toxicity. The enormous diversity of biosurfactants makes them an interesting group of materials for application in many areas such as agriculture, public health, food, health care, waste utilisation and environmental pollution control such as in degradation of hydrocarbon present in soil. Today, the use of biosurfactant in agricultural sector is very essential to meet the growing demands of human population. Use of green compound to achieve the sustainable agriculture is the present necessity. This review highlights the enormous use of harsh surfactants in agricultural soil and agrochemical industries. Biosurfactants which are reported to be produced by bacteria, yeasts and fungi can serve as green surfacatants. However, large-scale production of these molecules has not been realized because of low yields in production processes and high recovery and purification costs. The biggest challenge and area void in research is to make the production of the biosurfactant cost effective.