A Novel Process for the Continuous Production of Surfactin

连续生产表面活性素的新工艺

• 批准号: EP/D073227/2
• 负责人: Peter Martin
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Manchester
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2007
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2007 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=EP%2FD073227%2F2
• 关键词: Novel; Process; Continuous; Production; Surfactin

Chemicals which stick to the interface between gases and liquids are called surface active agents, or surfactants for short. When surfactants are at an interface they change its properties in important ways. They are essential for life itself. For example, it is the surfactants in a newborn baby's lungs which enable her to first draw breath. They also feature in almost every industrial production process, and are behind many everyday products we use from detergents to ink jet printing.Currently, most of the surfactants we use in industry and at home are produced from oil sources. However, some bacteria will produce surfactants whilst feeding on a range of materials. A surfactant produced in this way is called a biosurfactant. Although individual bacteria are microscopically small and produce only tiny amounts of product, many millions of millions of cells can be farmed to produce substantial amounts of product.Biosurfactants are very interesting. They can easily outperform synthetic oil derived surfactants, whilst having the attraction of being made from renewable resources. Also, the structures of biosurfactant molecules are much more interesting than synthetic ones, giving them many useful properties which synthetic surfactants just don't have. Unfortunately, they are also very, very expensive, and this really limits how much we can explore and take advantage of them.This interdisciplinary project will engineer a novel process for the production of one such biosurfactant called surfactin. The aim is to advance the process engineering of biosurfactant production in general; the objective is to slash the cost of surfactin to a tenth of what it is now. The process will combine four innovations in process engineering and microbiology. Experimentation will give scientific insight into the process, lead to new technology, and produce small quantities of surfactin. Commercialisation will lead to a step-increase in surfactin availability, and step-decrease in price.Surfactin was named after its outstanding properties as a surfactant. Surfactin was identified in 1968 from products of the bacteria known as Bacillus subtilis. Upon discovery it was seen to affect the interface between water and air more than any other surfactant known at the time, and at very low concentrations. Even today, the most powerful industrial surfactants struggle to match its power, and require the use of much greater amounts of chemical. For example, over 250 times as much TRITON GR-5M (the most powerful surfactant marketed by DOW, the world's largest chemical company) is required to match surfactin's action.The global surfactant market in 2003 was 12m tonnes, worth 8.8b. The market is extremely competitive, so products with a distinct advantage are highly prized. Aside from its superior surfactant power, surfactin is renewable, biodegradable, biocompatible and has low toxicity. Consequently, surfactin is particularly attractive for environmental uses, such as cleaning pollutants from soil and enhancing production from oil wells. Current production costs severely limit surfactin's exploitation; there are only a very small number of large scale plants in the world.Exploration and exploitation of surfactin's great potential in medicine and biotechnology has also been inhibited its very high price. Surfactin is currently available as a fine chemical with a price equivalent to 6500/g, that's almost 800 times more expensive than gold. This high price is a result of labour intensive, small scale batch production and complex separation processes.This project will employ the latest innovative techniques to increase the efficiency of all biosurfactant production, and thus lead to a step-decrease in price and step-increase in availability. With this people, industry and society in general will be able to benefit more fully from the uniquely useful properties of biosurfactants.

粘在气体和液体界面上的化学物质被称为表面活性剂，简称表面活性剂。当表面活性剂在界面上时，它们会以重要的方式改变界面的性质。它们对生命本身是必不可少的。例如，正是新生儿肺部的表面活性剂使她能够第一次呼吸。它们几乎在每一个工业生产过程中都发挥着重要作用，并且在我们使用的许多日常产品背后，从洗涤剂到喷墨打印。目前，我们在工业和家庭中使用的大多数表面活性剂都是从石油中提取的。然而，一些细菌在以一系列物质为食的同时会产生表面活性剂。以这种方式生产的表面活性剂称为生物表面活性剂。虽然单个细菌在显微镜下很小，只能生产少量的产品，但数以百万计的细胞可以生产大量的产品。生物表面活性剂非常有趣。它们可以轻易地胜过合成油衍生的表面活性剂，同时具有由可再生资源制成的吸引力。此外，生物表面活性剂分子的结构比合成表面活性剂更有趣，赋予它们许多合成表面活性剂所不具备的有用特性。不幸的是，它们也非常非常昂贵，这确实限制了我们对它们的探索和利用。这个跨学科的项目将设计一种新的工艺来生产一种叫做表面活性剂的生物表面活性剂。目的是全面推进生物表面活性剂生产的工艺工程；其目标是将表面素的成本削减到现在的十分之一。该工艺将结合工艺工程和微生物学方面的四项创新。实验将为这一过程提供科学的见解，带来新技术，并生产少量的表面素。商业化将导致表面素供应的逐步增加和价格的逐步下降。表面活性剂因其优异的性能而得名。表面素是1968年从一种叫做枯草芽孢杆菌的细菌的产物中鉴定出来的。发现后，人们发现它对水和空气界面的影响比当时已知的任何表面活性剂都要大，而且浓度很低。即使在今天，最强大的工业表面活性剂也难以与之匹敌，并且需要使用更多的化学物质。例如，需要250多倍的TRITON GR-5M（世界上最大的化学公司DOW销售的最强大的表面活性剂）才能达到表面素的作用。2003年，全球表面活性剂市场为1200万吨，价值88亿美元。市场竞争非常激烈，因此具有独特优势的产品受到高度重视。除了表面活性剂的优势外，表面素是可再生的、可生物降解的、生物相容性的和低毒性的。因此，表面素在环境方面的应用尤其具有吸引力，例如清除土壤中的污染物和提高油井的产量。目前的生产成本严重限制了表面素的开发；世界上只有极少数的大型植物。由于表面素在医学和生物技术方面的巨大潜力，其高昂的价格也受到了抑制。表面素目前是一种精细的化学物质，价格相当于6500美元/克，几乎是黄金的800倍。这种高价格是劳动密集型、小批量生产和复杂分离过程的结果。该项目将采用最新的创新技术来提高所有生物表面活性剂的生产效率，从而导致价格的逐步下降和可用性的逐步增加。有了这些人，工业和整个社会将能够从生物表面活性剂独特的有用特性中更充分地受益。