Recent advances of biosurfactant for waste and pollution bioremediation: Substitutions of petroleum-based surfactants

Biosurfactant is one of the emerging compounds in the industrial sector that behaves similarly with their synthetic counterparts, as they can reduce surface and interfacial tension between two fluids. Their unique properties also enable biosurfactant molecules to be able to clump together to form micelles that can capture targeted molecules within a solution. Biosurfactants are compared with synthetic surfactants on various applications for which the results shows that biosurfactants are fully capable of replacing synthetic surfactants in applications including enhanced oil recovery and wastewater treatment applications. Biosurfactants are able to be used in different applications as well since they are less toxic than synthetic surfactants. These applications include bioremediation on oil spills in the marine environment and bioremediation for contaminated soil and water, as well as a different approach on the pharmaceutical applications. The future of biosurfactants in the pharmaceutical industry and petroleum industry as well as challenges faced for implementing biosurfactants into large-scale applications are also discussed at the end of this review. • Surfactants are being applied in various applications. • Biosurfactants have several advantages over petroleum-based surfactants. • Biosurfactants can be used in bioremediations as they are less toxic. • Biosurfactants are able to fully replace petroleum-based surfactants.