BIOSURFACTANTS IN INDUSTRY

Biosurfactants (Microbial Surface Active Agents) have become recently an important product of biotechnology for industrial and medical applications. Thereason for their popularity, as high value microbial products, is primarily in their specific action, low toxicity, relative ease of preparation and widespread applicaility. They can be used as emulsifiers, de-emulsifiers, wetting agents, spreading agents, foaming agents, functional food ingredients and detergents in various industrial sectors such as Petroleum and Petrochemicals, Organic Chemicals, Foods and Beverages, Cosmetics and Pharmaceuticals, Mining and Metallurgy, Agrochemicals and Fertilizers, Environmental Control and Management, and many others.