SURFACTANTS
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there was for many years a gap on the market for a surfactant product that can be made using minimal new resources and generate minimal pollution during its fabrication and after-use disposal.
The biological alternative
Some new classes of surfactants, known as biosurfactants, are produced using low-energy microbial fermentation processes not dissimilar to brewing beer. Examples include rhamnolipids( RLs), produced by bacteria such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and sophorolipids( SLs), produced by yeasts such as Starmerella bombicola.
In both cases, the microbes convert raw materials like oils and sugars into biosurfactants in waterbased conditions. Their production eliminates the need for toxic catalysts and chemical processes at high temperatures and pressures, and represents a considerable advance in cutting the pollution caused by the production process. They are readily biodegradable, mild and free from contaminants like 1,4-dioxane.
However, like chemically produced biobased surfactants, the first generation of biosurfactants still relies heavily on virgin feedstocks. Without finding alternative feedstocks, they continue to
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upcycled sophorolipids
Non-upcycled sophorolipids share many of the environmental shortcomings of traditional surfactants. To make a truly sustainable biosurfactant, virgin feedstocks need to be eliminated from the production process.
Biosurfactants from waste
While researching biosurfactants at the University of Ghent and the Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant, the scientists who would go on to found AmphiStar realised that it is possible to upcycle waste- and sidestreams from food processing and agriculture for use as feedstocks. This led to the development of a second generation of biosurfactants offering higher levels of sustainability.
AmphiStar’ s process pre-treats the waste- and side-streams to purify and liquefy them before pumping them into a bioreactor vessel into which S. bombicola yeast is also introduced. As the yeast multiplies, it creates significant microbial biomass( playing a similar function to a catalyst in a chemical reaction), which derives nutrition from the feedstock and produces the desired biosurfactant as a byproduct in the same way that yeast in a brewery produces alcohol.
Strain improvement enables the scientists to vary the properties of the surfactants produced by the yeast to be suitable for a range of
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AmphiStar upcycled sophorolipids
Non-upcycled sophorolipids home care( and other) applications. Currently, AmphiStar has developed a strain library capable of producing over 80 biosurfactant molecules with varied properties and hence a varied performance in solubility, surface tension, antimicrobial activity and critical micelle concentration( CMC).
Sustainability
Upcycled, second generation biosurfactants are responsible for minimal direct land use beyond the footprint of the processing plant itself. By using waste- and side streams from crops already grown for other uses, which would otherwise be discarded, they eliminate the need for dedicated agriculture and enables the land to be used for food cultivation or left as natural habitat.
The avoidance of dedicated agriculture prevents CO 2 emissions and the need for fertilisers and pesticides, and requires far less water than irrigation for dedicated crops. In addition, the process can help prevent the release of greenhouse gases that the waste biomass would emit if it were disposed of in landfill, while simultaneously acting as a highvalue intermediate valorisation step. After surfactant extraction, the remaining biomass can still be used for animal feed, compost or energy, depending on local waste management and economic feasibility.
The second-generation process can also be arranged to minimise the long logistic chains that are often part of first-generation biosurfactant production. They can be sourced locally, where feedstocks like palm oil have to be shipped, flown or driven to the factory from wherever they originate, often thousands of miles away.
AmphiStar has identified the possibility for co-locating production facilities with its feedstock sources. For example,
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