Petroleum hydrocarbons are important energy resources. However, petroleum is also a major pollutant of the environment. Contamination by oil and oil products has caused serious harm, and increasing attention has been paid to the development and implementation of innovative technologies for the removal of these contaminants. Biosurfactants have been extensively used in the remediation of water and soil, as well as in the main stages of the oil production chain, such as extraction, transportation, and storage. This diversity of applications is mainly due to advantages such as biodegradability, low toxicity and better functionality under extreme conditions in comparison to synthetic counterparts. Moreover, biosurfactants can be obtained with the use of agro-industrial waste as substrate, which helps reduce overall production costs. The present review describes the potential applications of biosurfactants in the oil industry and the remediation of environmental pollution caused by oil spills.

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Applications of Biosurfactants in the Petroleum Industry and the Remediation of Oil Spills

Biosurfactants, natural alternatives to synthetic surfactants: Physicochemical properties and applications

The growing global demand for sustainable technologies that improves the efficiency of petrochemical processes in the oil industry has driven advances in petroleum biotechnology in recent years Petroleum industry uses substantial amounts of petrochemical-based synthetic surfactants in its activities as mobilizing agents to increase the availability or recovery of hydrocarbons as well as many other applications related to extraction, treatment, cleaning and transportation However, biosurfactants have several potential applications for use across the oil processing chain and in the formulations of petrochemical products such as emulsifying/demulsifying agents, anticorrosive, biocides for sulphate-reducing bacteria, fuel formulation, extraction of bitumen from tar sands and many other innovative applications Due to their versatility and proven efficiency, biosurfactants are often presented as valuable versatile tools that can transform and modernise petroleum biotechnology in an attempt to provide a true picture of state of the art and directions or use in the oil industry We believe that biosurfactants are going to have a significant role in many future applications in the oil industries and in this review therefore, we highlight recent important relevant applications, patents disclosures and potential future applications for biosurfactants in petroleum and related industries

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Biosurfactants: Promising Molecules for Petroleum Biotechnology Advances.

Microbial enhanced oil recovery (MEOR) is a type of enhanced oil recovery (EOR) technology, generally employed as a tertiary stage where oil recovery using primary and secondary traditional methods is not feasible anymore. Amongst several potential biological agents useful for MEOR, biosurfactants (biologically produced amphiphilic surfactants) play key roles. They are mostly equivalent to or better than their chemical counterparts in several aspects including; better environmental compatibility, production from renewable waste substrates, maintaining activity at harsh environmental conditions, lower or no environmental toxicity. Biosurfactants are still not cost-competitive when compared to chemical surfactants. Different strategies like the use of cheaper raw materials, optimization of media components, fermentation processes and downstream processes, use of hyperproducers are currently explored to improve biosurfactant production economics. Biosurfactant mediated MEOR (BS-MEOR) could be applied by either in-situ or ex-situ techniques. In-situ BS-MEOR could be applied by injecting biosurfactant producing microorganisms in the oil well with or without additional nutrients. Generally followed by shut-in phase and subsequently monitoring microbial activities, metabolites production and oil recovery from the producer wells. Whereas for ex-situ BS-MEOR applications, the biosurfactant is produced outside the oil well and injected directly for enhancing oil recovery. This review highlights the biosurfactant production and economics, general protocols for applications from lab-to-field scale, different successful trials along with pros and cons of both in-situ and ex-situ BS-MEOR applications.

Biosurfactants: Production and potential applications in microbial enhanced oil recovery (MEOR)

Microbial biosurfactants with high ability to reduce surface and interfacial surface tension and conferring important properties such as emulsification, detergency, solubilization, lubrication and phase dispersion have a wide range of potential applications in many industries. Significant interest in these compounds has been demonstrated by environmental, bioremediation, oil, petroleum, food, beverage, cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries attracted by their low toxicity, biodegradability and sustainable production technologies. Despite having significant potentials associated with emulsion formation, stabilization, antiadhesive and antimicrobial activities, significantly less output and applications have been reported in food industry. This has been exacerbated by uneconomical or uncompetitive costing issues for their production when compared to plant or chemical counterparts. In this review, biosurfactants properties, present uses and potential future applications as food additives acting as thickening, emulsifying, dispersing or stabilising agents in addition to the use of sustainable economic processes utilising agro-industrial wastes as alternative substrates for their production are discussed. V C 2013 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog., 000:000–000, 2013

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Microbial biosurfactants as additives for food industries

Kinetic study of biosurfactant production by Bacillus subtilis LAMI005 grown in clarified cashew apple juice.

Production of a biosurfactant by Bacillus subtilis ICA56 aiming bioremediation of impacted soils

Semi-dry flue gas desulfurization (FGD) technology is used by some coal-based power plants to remove sulfur dioxide from flue gas. In semi-dry FGD systems, SO2 is removed by calcium-based sorbents in a reactive spray dryer, but the level of desulfurization is lower than in wet FGD systems. This work evaluates the effects of seven additives in the desulfurization of the flue gas: magnesium hydroxide, ammonium nitrate, ammonium acetate, ammonium phosphate, sodium hydroxide, citric acid, and urea. Slurries with calcium hydroxide concentrations of 10 and 20 wt% containing 2 and 4 wt% of an additive were applied in the removal of SO2. Additives containing ammonium intensified the removal of SO2 and increased the yield of the reaction. The SO2 content in the flue gas reduced by 73.8% when applying a slurry containing 4 wt% of ammonium nitrate and 10 wt% of Ca(OH)2. The use of this slurry increased the removal of SO2 by 13.5% when compared to the best result obtained using calcium hydroxide slurry without any additive.

Ítalo Waldimiro Lima de França

Papers

Kinetic study of biosurfactant production by Bacillus subtilis LAMI005 grown in clarified cashew apple juice.

Production of a biosurfactant by Bacillus subtilis ICA56 aiming bioremediation of impacted soils

Effect of Additives to Improve Calcium-Based Sorbents in Semi-Dry Flue Gas Desulphurization

Kinetic Study of Biosurfactant Production by Bacillus subtilis LAMI005 grown in Clarified Cashew Apple Juice

Production of surfactin by Bacillus subtilis LAMI005 and evaluation of its potential as tensoactive and emulsifier