The Prospects for the Production of Rhamnolipids on Renewable Resources: Evaluation of Novel Feedstocks and Perspectives of Strain Engineering

Environmental concerns have led to increased interest and demand for bio-based chemicals in the last years. Many industrially relevant surfactants are prominent examples of chemicals based on fossil resources, which may also be produced biotechnologically using renewable resources. The worldwide total annual production of surfactants is estimated to exceed 15 million tons (Van Bogaert et al. 2007). The applications of surfactants range from detergents for cleaning or washing,

6.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 83 6.2 Renewable Feedstocks for the Production of Rhamnolipids ..................................................85