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Biosurfactants: a sustainable replacement for chemical surfactants?

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Abstract

Glycolipid biosurfactants produced by bacteria and yeasts provide significant opportunities to replace chemical surfactants with sustainable biologically produced alternatives in bulk commercial products such as laundry detergents and surface cleaners. Sophorolipids are already available in sufficient yield to make their use feasible while rhamnolipids and mannosylerythritol lipids require further development. The ability to tailor the biosurfactant produced to the specific needs of the product formulation will be an important future step.

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  1. School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Ulster, Coleraine, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland, BT521SA, UK

    Roger Marchant & Ibrahim M. Banat

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  1. Roger Marchant
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  2. Ibrahim M. Banat
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Correspondence to Roger Marchant.

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Marchant, R., Banat, I.M. Biosurfactants: a sustainable replacement for chemical surfactants?. Biotechnol Lett 34, 1597–1605 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-012-0956-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10529-012-0956-x

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