Biosurfactants – Trends and Perspectives
HiPerIn 2.0 White paper published
We are happy to announce the publication of a white paper on biosurfactant research, production, and application. Numerous expert interviews with industry and research institutions led to a broad overview of the current state and the future potential of biosurfactants to play a major role in various fields of application. Focussing on the development in North Rhine-Westphalia, also national and global trends are described. The white paper is published in the framework of the HiPerIn 2.0 project, funded by the Ministry of Economic Affairs Innovation, Digitalization and Energy of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia. It can be downloaded via the link below.
Summary
Currently, most synthetic surfactants are produced from fossil-based feedstocks. This white paper covers the current state and perspective of biosurfactants to replace such synthetic surfactants. Focussing on the industry in North-Rhine Westphalia, key players from industry, SME and academia were interviewed leading to this report. Beside economic aspects, chances and obstacles of process development and strain engineering play a major role. Without public support, the risk seems too high for chemical companies to develop an economical production process for biosurfactants alongside established processes. For ensuring the state’s industrial competitiveness in green chemistry, the state should create incentives promoting the economic production and thus the market entry of biosurfactants.
