Microbial Surfactants

Biosurfactants are the surface-active biomolecules produced by a wide range of microorganisms. The enormous diversity of biosurfactants make them an interesting group of molecules. Biosurfactants, are less toxic, eco-friendly and possess amphiphatic structure. Due to these and many other useful properties, biosurfactants play a significant role in oil recovery, waste utilization and bioremediation of industrial effluents; hydrocarbons, pesticides and toxic heavy metals and many other hazardous substances. Biosurfactants offer numerous advantages over chemical surfactants. They are environmentally friendly, can be produced from natural sources, less toxic, possess high specificity, have better foaming and emulsifying properties and survive extreme conditions such as high temperatures, extreme pH and salinity. They are cheaper as they can be produced from industrial waste and from by-products as opposed to chemical surfactants. This volume comprises concepts, classification, production and applications of biosurfactants in oil recovery, environment and clean up, etc. It is an excellent literature on fermentation, recovery, genomics and metagenomics of biosurfactant production. It is presented in an easy-to-understand manner, with well-illustrated diagrams, protocols, figures, and recent data on the production, formulation and commercialization and other aspects of biosurfactants. As such, the book will be useful for students, researchers, teachers, and entrepreneurs in the area of PGPR and its allied fields.