Removal of hydrophobic contaminant/petroleum derivate utilizing biosurfactants

Hydrophobic contaminants and petroleum derivates constitute a major fraction of the energy resources threatening environmental sustainability and clean water provision, a limitation in achieving some of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDGs). The deterioration of environmental media (soil and water) is mainly due to contamination from various industrial effluents, by-products of coal treatment processes, oil spillage, and illegal discharge of hydrophobic waste. Among the various pollutants, those of hydrophobic nature, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and other organic compounds, are toxic, mutagenic, and carcinogenic. These environmental pollutants are mostly persistent because of their low water solubility, which limits their availability for degradation. Thus, there are very hazardous to human health and other living organisms. Regarding the detrimental effects of hydrophobic contaminants and petroleum derivates, there is a need to remove these pollutants from the environment using suitable methods that allow for easy pollutant adsorption, because pollutant accessibility is a major limiting factor in remediation. Hence, there is increasing research on biosurfactants, which are 21st-century biomolecules that can provide green technology for environmental pollutant remediation and hydrophobic pollutant decontamination. Biosurfactants are less toxic, biodegradable, and environmentally compatible and are widely produced by microorganisms to increase the bioavailability of hydrophobic compounds for remediation. Knowledge of how microorganisms degrade hydrocarbons is essential for solving environmental remediation problems. Therefore, this chapter discusses different types of hydrophobic pollutants, their harmful effects, and methods of removal using biosurfactants. We also show that the eco-sustainable biosurfactant-based remediation approach contributes to achieving some selected UN-SDGs and enumerate the possible future prospects.