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Review
. 2016 Oct 31:7:1718.
doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2016.01718. eCollection 2016.

Biosurfactants: Promising Molecules for Petroleum Biotechnology Advances

Darne G De Almeida  1 , Rita de Cássia F Soares Da Silva  1 , Juliana M Luna  2 , Raquel D Rufino  2 , Valdemir A Santos  2 , Ibrahim M Banat  3 , Leonie A Sarubbo  4
Affiliations
Review

Biosurfactants: Promising Molecules for Petroleum Biotechnology Advances

Darne G De Almeida et al. Front Microbiol. .

Abstract

The growing global demand for sustainable technologies that improves the efficiency of petrochemical processes in the oil industry has driven advances in petroleum biotechnology in recent years. Petroleum industry uses substantial amounts of petrochemical-based synthetic surfactants in its activities as mobilizing agents to increase the availability or recovery of hydrocarbons as well as many other applications related to extraction, treatment, cleaning, and transportation. However, biosurfactants have several potential applications for use across the oil processing chain and in the formulations of petrochemical products such as emulsifying/demulsifying agents, anticorrosive, biocides for sulfate-reducing bacteria, fuel formulation, extraction of bitumen from tar sands, and many other innovative applications. Due to their versatility and proven efficiency, biosurfactants are often presented as valuable versatile tools that can transform and modernize petroleum biotechnology in an attempt to provide a true picture of state of the art and directions or use in the oil industry. We believe that biosurfactants are going to have a significant role in many future applications in the oil industries and in this review therefore, we highlight recent important relevant applications, patents disclosures and potential future applications for biosurfactants in petroleum and related industries.

Keywords: biosurfactants; bitumen; emulsified fuels; enhanced oil recovery; petroleum biotechnology; sulfate reducing bacteria.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Potential applications of biotechnology in petroleum industry. Blue lines represent the major petroleum processing steps, and the red lines represent the biotechnological applications in the respective steps.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Process of microbial recovery of crude oil using biosurfactant. (A) Oil extraction using natural pressure of the reservoir. (B) Oil well pressure decreased. (C) Main strategies of biosurfactant used to the oil release. (D) Oil well pressure restored facilitating oil extraction.
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