Title
Academic start-up specialized in research on biosurfactants is looking for a techology and process optimization on separation and purification of the end product
AbstractThe company is a Turkish greentech company that is dedicated to adapting academic knowledge to environmentally friendly, innovative, sustainable solutions for industry. The initiative, established on the basis of biotechnological product production, produces new generation biological products from sustainable sources, enables the creation of alternative raw materials by evaluating industrial wastes, and progresses by combining solutions from nature on the basis of green chemistry principles.
DescriptionMicrobial biosurfactant is a sustainable biological surfactant produced from renewable resources with the fermentation technology in the new generation green surfactants group.
It has been developed as a biological green alternative to conventional synthetic surfactants and works on a similar principle.
The crude microbial biosurfactant has been tested in leather degreasing and soaking process as pilot scale and according to the results of PoC , biosurfactant has additional property as antimicrobial effect
Due to the properties of microbial biosurfactant, the company wants to enhance the usage area (cosmetology, healthcare, pharmaceutical, cleaning agents etc.) of the product by;
* Determining the best suitable methodology for separation and purification steps,
* Optimizing the process from lab scale to demonstration scale.
Advantages and innovation
Microbial biosurfactant has the technology readiness level 7 and has a great potential in numerous applications due to having advantages such as low toxicity, production from sustainable raw materials, high biodegradability, environmental-friendly, diversity due to chemical structure and property and durability to extreme process conditions. These superiorities of microbial biosurfactants provide advantages to industries, which are closely monitored in terms of their polluting capacity, utilize great amounts of chemical surfactants.
Other Specific advantages are;
-100% natural, biodegradable product.
-Environmentally friendly and non-toxic.
-Produced using sustainable resources.
The product is tested in leather degreasing and soaking process in pilot scale.Some key feautures are;
Appearance: Light Amber Liquid
pH: 6.7
Typical Properties
Composition: Biosurfactant, rhamnolipid
Odor: Characteristic
Surface tension (mN/m): 30
Emulsification degree (E24, %): 50
Oil displacement result (Zone, cm): 7 [This corresponds 17,4 g/L biosurfactant production.]
Denaturation temperature: 135oC
Melting point: 315oC
Technical Specification or Expertise Sought
Related to the synthesis of biosurfactants, expertise on separation and purification of the final product is needed.