ABSTRACT
Surfactants represent a billionaire market of amphiphilic molecules with worldwide applications in almost every branch of modern industry. The most common surfactants, available and currently used, are chemically produced. However, there is an urge to replace these chemical compounds with those obtained by mild and green technologies such as microbial biosurfactants produced by fermentative processes. Rhamnolipids are glycolipid biosurfactants that present highly effective surface-active properties and enormous market potential; nevertheless, their production costs remain not competitive. Here, we present a process of rhamnolipid production by static submerged cultivation using membranes of bacterial cellulose as substrate. The mixture of the rhamnolipid congeners was characterized showing effective surface-active properties and high amount of di-rhamnolipids (95.6%). Through this fermentative technology, 15.8 g/L of rhamnolipid was reach using a very simple and low-cost medium. The present process might decrease biosurfactant production cost, avoid foam formation, and finally make rhamnolipid production more viable.
