School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Ulster, Coleraine, County Londonderry, BT52 1SA, Northern Ireland, UK.
Adv Exp Med Biol. 2010;672:135-45. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4419-5979-9_10.
Biosurfactants are a group of microbial molecules identified by their unique capabilities to interact with hydrocarbons. Emulsification and de-emulsification, dispersion, foaming, wetting and coating are some of the numerous surface activities that biosurfactants can achieve when applied within systems such as immiscible liquid/liquid (e.g., oil/water), solid/ liquid (e.g., rock/oil and rock/water) and gas/liquid. Therefore, the possibilities of exploiting these bioproducts in oil-related sciences are vast and made petroleum industry their largest possible market at present. The role of biosurfactants in enhancing oil recovery from reservoirs is certainly the best known; however they can be effectively applied in many other fields from transportation of crude oil in pipeline to the clean-up of oil storage tanks and even manufacturing of fine petrochemicals. When properly used, biosurfactants are comparable to traditional chemical analogues in terms of performances and offer advantages with regard to environment protection/conservation. This chapter aims at providing an up-to-date overview of biosurfactant roles, applications and possible future uses related to petroleum industry.
生物表面活性剂是一组微生物分子，其独特的能力可与碳氢化合物相互作用。乳化和破乳、分散、泡沫形成、润湿和涂层是生物表面活性剂在不混溶的液/液（例如，油/水）、固/液（例如，岩石/油和岩石/水）和气/液等系统中应用时可以实现的众多表面活性中的一些。因此，在与石油相关的科学中开发这些生物产品的可能性是巨大的，并且目前使石油工业成为其最大的可能市场。生物表面活性剂在提高油藏采收率方面的作用无疑是最广为人知的；然而，它们可以有效地应用于许多其他领域，从管道中输送原油到清理储油罐，甚至制造精细的石化产品。如果使用得当，生物表面活性剂在性能方面可与传统化学类似物相媲美，并在环境保护/保护方面具有优势。本章旨在提供有关与石油工业相关的生物表面活性剂的作用、应用和可能的未来用途的最新概述。
