REVIEW article
Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol.
Sec. Bioprocess Engineering
Prospects and Challenges Regarding Biosurfactants in Advancing the Petroleum Industry
Provisionally accepted
- 1McGill University, Montreal, Canada
- 2King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, Saudi Arabia
- 3Panjab University, Chandigarh, India
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As the global population increases, the petroleum industry is experiencing exponential increase in energy demands. However, the petroleum industry faces a myriad of problems concerning production, operation, sustainability, climate change and broader environmental implications. Traditionally, industry has relied on synthetic surfactants to address these challenges. However, owing to their toxicity, nonbiodegradability, and potential ecological leaching, the industry is increasingly shifting toward natural surfactants. Biosurfactants have numerous applications in the petroleum industry as enhanced oil recovery agents, emulsification and demulsification agents, anticorrosive agents, and biocides for sulfate-reducing bacteria. Biosurfactants are proven to be versatile, stable, and valuable biochemical tools capable of modernizing and mitigating challenges in the petroleum industry while promoting sustainability. To realize their potential, future applications and commercialization of biosurfactants require specific research and technological advancement that can increase their production. This review explores the challenges faced by the petroleum industry and the classification, properties, applications, market share, patents, and promising prospects of biosurfactants in various petroleum industry sectors.
Keywords: biosurfactants, Oil industry, Environmental sustainability, Microbial-enhanced oilrecovery, Biometallization, Biodesulfurization
Received: 04 Sep 2025; Accepted: 21 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Ahluwalia, Patel, Narmeta, Guzman Sanchez and Soares Rosado. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Niketan Patel, niketan.patel@kaust.edu.sa
Alexandre Soares Rosado, alexandre.rosado@kaust.edu.sa
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.