ABSTRACT
Biosurfactants are surface-active compounds produced by different bacteria, fungi and yeasts (Bodour & Maier 2002). In recent years, biosurfactants have gained attention because of their advantages such as high biodegradability, low toxicity, variable structures, ecological acceptability, high foaming, high selectivity, specific activity at extreme temperature, pH, salinity and the ability to be synthesised from renewable feed stocks (Desai & Banat 1997 Makkar & Cameotra 1997, 1999, 2002). The unique properties of biosurfactants allow their use as possible replacements for chemically synthesised surfactants in many industrial applications such as bioremediation, enhanced oil recovery, food additives, pharmaceutical and therapeutic agents, agricultural biocontrol agents, and in health and beauty products (Kosaric 2000, Singh et al. 2007).
