ABSTRACT
Biosurfactants/ bioemulsifiers (BS/BE) are routinely used in many day-to-day products such as cosmetics, food, pharmaceuticals, and hygiene products. These bioproducts, therefore, have a huge and increasing market demand. Most commercially used surfactantsare derived from petroleum derivatives. However, due to the environmental concerns associated with the chemical surfactants and owing to the disputes such as their toxicity and non-biodegradability, there is a crucial requisite to find biological surfactants as an alternative to chemical surfactants. BS/BE, thus provides a green alternative to the chemical surfactants. However, lower yields and high production cost of microbial BS/BE as compared to synthetic counterparts restrict their widespread usein commercial applications. Therefore, there is a need to explore cost-effective substrates or technologies for the production of microbial BS/BE. This chapter is focussed on the use of cheaper and renewable substrates from various sectors such as agricultural and food, oil and oil based industries, dairy and distilleryfor the growth of microorganisms which are capable of producingbiosurfactant. This chapter also reviews the use of promising approaches such as solid state fermentation, co-production of biosurfactants with other commercially important bioproducts, strain improvement, media modifications, immobilization and statistical designs for the increase in the yield of the biosurfactants.
