Rhamnolipid Biosurfactant: Recent Trends in Production and Application

146 Pages·2018·4.331 MB·English

by  Rajesh Kumar, Amar Jyoti Das

Rajesh Kumar · Amar Jyoti Das
Rhamnolipid
Biosurfactant
Recent Trends in Production and
Application
Rhamnolipid Biosurfactant
Rajesh Kumar • Amar Jyoti Das
Rhamnolipid
Biosurfactant
Recent Trends in Production and
Application
Rajesh Kumar Amar Jyoti Das
Department of Microbiology Department of Environmental Microbiology
Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University
(A Central University) Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India
Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India
ISBN 978-981-13-1288-5 ISBN 978-981-13-1289-2 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-1289-2
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018947415
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Preface
Biosurfactants are the secondary metabolites derived from plant, animal, and micro-
organisms. Biosurfactants of microbial origin are synthesized during the late sta-
tionary phase by the organisms and have diverse properties, which make them
versatile for use in various fields. Rhamnolipids are one of them, which belong to
the glycolipid group and were reported for the first time in the year 1946 from the
bacterial strain Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Rhamnolipids comprise of three hydroxyl
fatty acid unit linked to rhamnose unit by a β-glycosidic bond. The 3-hydroxyl fatty
acids of rhamnolipids are linked to each other via an ester bond, whereas rhamnose
units are linked together by O-glycosidic bonds. They are further categorized based
on the number of rhamnose units and composition of fatty acid units.
Like chemical surfactants, rhamnolipids possess various physicochemical prop-
erties and characteristics such as emulsification, de-emulsification, detergency, wet-
ting and foaming, and interfacial and surface tension reduction properties between
liquids and solids. Due to their biological origin and consumer acceptability their
market is increasing day by day.
This book highlights the recent developments on rhamnolipid biosurfactant, its
properties, role in the natural environment, and various applications. Recently,
rhamnolipids have shown promising applications in environment, agriculture, food,
petroleum, and pharmaceutical industries due to their environment-friendly and
degradable nature. The book emphasizes the various techniques that are utilized for
the detection and isolation of rhamnolipid biosurfactant from microorganisms. It
highlights the various aspects of the rhamnolipid biosurfactants including structural
characteristics, production, and its application. The book presents the current
knowledge and the latest advances in the function-based strategies to facilitate the
exploration of novel biosurfactants. Authors wish to thank Springer for publishing
this authored work.
Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India Rajesh Kumar
Amar Jyoti Das
v
Acknowledgment
I thankfully acknowledge my parents, my family for their support during the writing
of this manuscript. I would also like to thank my research scholars for the technical
support in arranging the manuscript, understanding, and forbearance. Lastly, I
would highly appreciate the help constantly received from the editors of Springer
Nature throughout the process of authoring this work.
Rajesh Kumar
I thankfully acknowledge my mentor, “Dr. Rajesh Kumar,” and Jagriti mam for
their constant support and motivation. I would also like to thank my uncle,
Bhadreswar Das, and my sister, Rup Jyoti Das, for having their faith in my goal and
dream. I would also like to thank my friends Dhriti, Athar, Shamim, Aman, Aqueel,
Shubham, Rituraj, Gaurav, Manoj, and Jai Prakash and my colleagues Chhaya,
Seema, Beenu, Shattrohan, Shweta, Sadhana, Pooja, Sheel, and Swati for their sup-
port and motivation. Lastly, I would highly appreciate the help that we have con-
stantly received from the editors of Springer Nature.
Amar Jyoti Das
vii
Contents
1 Rhamnolipid Biosurfactants and Their Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 Sources of Biosurfactants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.3 Types of Biosurfactants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.4 Discovery of Rhamnolipids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.5 Why Do Bacteria Produce Rhamnolipids? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.5.1 Uptake of Hydrophobic Substrates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.5.2 Biofilm Formation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.5.3 Motility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.6 Rhamnolipid Producers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.7 Structure of Rhamnolipids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2 Extraction, Detection, and Characterization of Rhamnolipid
Biosurfactants from Microorganisms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.2 Detection and Screening Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.2.1 Qualitative Assays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.2.2 Quantitative Method for the Detection of Rhamnolipids . . . 19
2.3 Various Extraction Methods for Rhamnolipid(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.3.1 Centrifugation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.3.2 Crystallization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.3.3 Filtration and Precipitation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.3.4 Foam Fractionation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2.3.5 Solvent Extraction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2.3.6 Ultrafiltration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2.4 Chemical Analysis of Rhamnolipid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2.5 Analytical Analysis of Rhamnolipid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.5.1 Chromatographic Methods. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.5.2 Spectroscopic Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
2.6 High-Throughput Screening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
ix
x Contents
3 Production of Rhamnolipids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
3.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
3.2 Strategies for Rhamnolipid Production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
3.3 Effect of Different Nutrients on Surfactant Production . . . . . . . . . . 30
3.3.1 Carbon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
3.3.2 Nitrogen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
3.3.3 Phosphate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
3.3.4 Metals and Iron . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
3.4 Raw Materials for Biosurfactant Production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
3.5 Rhamnolipid Production from Renewable Substrates . . . . . . . . . . . 35
3.5.1 Molasses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
3.5.2 Whey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
3.5.3 Soap Stock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
3.5.4 Frying Oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
3.5.5 Olive Oil Mill Effluent (OOME) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
3.5.6 Potato Waste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
3.6 Growth Conditions and Environmental Factors
Affecting Rhamnolipid Production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
3.6.1 Effect of Agitation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
3.6.2 Effect of Temperature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
3.6.3 Effect of pH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
4 Advancement of Genetic Engineering
in Rhamnolipid(s) Production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
4.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
4.2 Rhamnolipid Biosynthesis Pathway. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
4.3 Implication of Genetic Engineering for Production
of Rhamnolipids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
4.4 Role of Quorum-Sensing (QS) System for Production
of Rhamnolipids and Other Extracellular Factors
in P. aeruginosa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
5 Environmental Applications of Rhamnolipids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
5.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
5.2 Toxicity of Heavy Metals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
5.3 Various Technologies Employed for Remediation of Metal
Contaminated Soil Through Rhamnolipid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
5.3.1 Soil Washing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
5.3.2 Soil Flushing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
5.4 Contributions of Rhamnolipid in Remediation of Heavy Metal . . . 55
5.5 Metal Removal Mechanism of Biosurfactant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
5.6 Toxicity of Petroleum Hydrocarbons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
5.6.1 Aquatic Toxicity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
5.6.2 Terrestrial Toxicity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Contents xi
5.7 Bioremediation of Petroleum-Contaminated
Site by Biosurfactants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
5.7.1 Biodegradation of Petroleum Hydrocarbons
by Rhamnolipid- Producing Bacteria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
5.7.2 Remediation of Co-contaminated Soil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
6 Industrial Applications of Rhamnolipid: An Innovative
Green Technology for Industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
6.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
6.2 Grants and Patents on Rhamnolipids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
6.3 Rhamnolipid-Producing Companies Around the Globe . . . . . . . . . 68
6.4 Cosmeceutical Applications of Rhamnolipid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
6.4.1 For Development of Antiaging Skin Products . . . . . . . . . . . 68
6.4.2 Hair Mask Conditioner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
6.4.3 For Development of Nourishing Cosmetic . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
6.4.4 Development of Skin Cleanser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
6.4.5 Development of Shampoo Formulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
6.4.6 For Development of Scar Treatment Agent . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
6.4.7 Development of Toothpaste Formulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
6.5 Application of Rhamnolipid in the Petroleum Industry . . . . . . . . . . 71
6.5.1 Crude Oil Extraction from Reservoirs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
6.5.2 Transport of Crude Oil Through Pipelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
6.5.3 Oil Storage Tank Cleaning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
6.6 Rhamnolipid Application in Medical Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
6.6.1 Anticancer Activity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
6.6.2 Rhamnolipid as Antiadhesives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
6.6.3 Rhamnolipid as Antitumor Agents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
6.7 Rhamnolipid Application in Food Industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
6.7.1 Rhamnolipid as Food Preservative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
6.7.2 Antiadhesive Agent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
6.7.3 Emulsifiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
6.7.4 Antimicrobial Agent. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
7 Application of Rhamnolipids in Medical Sciences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
7.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
7.2 Antimicrobial Agent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
7.3 Anticancer Activity of Rhamnolipids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
7.4 Rhamnolipid as Antiadhesives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
7.5 Rhamnolipid as Biofilm-Disrupting Agent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
7.6 Antiviral Activity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
7.7 Rhamnolipid as Antitumor Agents. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
7.8 Rhamnolipids for the Stabilization of Microbubbles . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
7.9 Treating Wounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
7.10 Scar Treatment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
xii Contents
8 Role of Rhamnolipids in Enhanced Oil Recovery
and Oil Industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
8.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
8.2 Microbial Enhanced Oil Recovery (MEOR) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
8.2.1 Advantage of Microbial Enhanced Oil
Recovery (MEOR) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
8.2.2 Problems of Microbial Enhanced Oil
Recovery (MEOR) (Rashedi et al. 2012) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
8.2.3 Challenges in Microbial Enhanced Oil
Recovery (MEOR) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
8.3 Transport of Crude Oil Through Pipelines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
8.4 Cleaning of Oil Storage Tank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
8.5 Resolving Challenges Faced in Chemical Reaction
in the Oil Field (Rimpro India 2014a) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
8.5.1 Asphaltene Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
8.5.2 Biocides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
8.5.3 Corrosion Inhibitors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
8.5.4 Drag Reducers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
8.5.5 Emulsion Breakers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
8.5.6 Hydration Inhibitors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
8.6 Equipment Protection Procedure in Oil Industry
(Rimpro India 2014a, b) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
8.6.1 Demulsifiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
8.6.2 Various Demulsifiers Used in Oil Industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
8.6.3 Biosurfactants as Demulsifiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
9 Application of Rhamnolipids in Agriculture and Food Industry . . . . 97
9.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
9.2 Biopesticides and Their Role in Agriculture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
9.3 Benefits of Biopesticides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
9.3.1 Integrated Crop Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
9.3.2 Environmental Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
9.3.3 Policy Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
9.4 Rhamnolipids in Agriculture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
9.4.1 Rhamnolipid as Biopesticides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
9.4.2 Rhamnolipid for Restoration of Agricultural Soil . . . . . . . . 101
9.5 Rhamnolipid in Food Industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
9.5.1 Biofilm Formation on Food Processing Surfaces . . . . . . . . 101
9.5.2 Rhamnolipid Biosurfactants as Antibiofilm Agents
on Food Surfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
9.5.3 Rhamnolipid as Antiadhesive Agent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
9.5.4 Rhamnolipid as Emulsifiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
9.5.5 Antimicrobial Agent. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
9.5.6 Rhamnolipids as Food Additives and Ingredients . . . . . . . . 105
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106