Abstract
The interest of Petroleum industry in biosurfactant production has increased considerably in recent years as a possible replacement for chemical surfactants which are known for their high toxicity and non-degradability. Biosurfactants are amphiphillic surface active agents produced by microrganisms. They are biodegradable and have been found useful in oil field applications such as bioremediation of hydrocarbon impacted media due to their enhanced oil recovery ability, solubilisation, removal of oil from contaminated soil and sludge in oil storage tanks, dispersion of oil spills, transfer of crude oil and bioremediation of recalcitrant molecules without a residual toxic effect on the environment. These properties make their usage more advantageous over their synthetic counterparts. Biosurfactants can be obtained with the use of agro-industrial waste such as Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME) as substrate, this helps to reduce overall production costs. Microrganisms have demonstrated the ability to utilize POME as a carbon source accompanied with biosurfactant production. This is due to their unique metabolic pathways which makes them a useful tool in the bio-industry. Production of biosurfactants from POME will not only reduce its production cost but will also encourage the use of our indigenous raw material thus reducing the amount of waste released into the environment and contributing immensely to sustainable waste management. The present review describes the production of biosurfactant from POME and its applications in oil field industry.
