ABSTRACT
Bio surfactants, which are synthesized by various microorganisms viz. bacteria, fungi and yeast possess similar characteristics to reduce the surface and interfacial tensions by similar synthentic surfactant mechanisms. Although, surfactants are extensively used in various applications, they show various adverse impacts on environment and society health. On the other hand, biosurfactants exhibit numerous benefits over synthetic surfactants such as high biodegradability, low toxicity, low irritancy and compatibility with human skin and ecological acceptance. They trend to show few special properties like selectivity, specific activity at extreme temperatures, pH and salinity. These potent biomolecules are coming up as ‘Green products’ with increasing consumer demand of natural and safe products. These biomolecules show a wide range of applications in various fields like Agriculture, Environment including tertiary recovery, control of oil spills, biodegradation, bioremediation and detoxification of oil-contaminated industrial effluents and soils . They have significant applications in pharmaceuticals, medicine, food and cosmetics. There has also been an interest in their use in more specialized applications such as exploiting their synergistic potential in combination with antibiotics and other bioactive molecules, and even in the bioactivity of the bio surfactants themselves as antimicrobials and anti-cancer agents. Furthermore, due to remarkably low cytotoxicity, they are going to be of increasing significance in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic also. This chapter presents an overview of Surfactants and Biosurfactants. It also illustrates the elaborative prospects and strategies for cost effective, ecofriendly biosurfactant production along with promising diverse applications signifying potential scope of Bio surfactants in the global market.
