Two biosurfactant makers scale up

The biosurfactant makers Dispersa and AGAE Technologies are each scaling up production in moves that together will add more than 1,000 metric tons (t) per year of new capacity to the market for this emerging class of biobased surfactants. Biosurfactants, also called glycolipids, are surfactants with sugar groups covalently attached to fatty acid tails. Made from biomass via fermentation, the ingredients are finding use in cleaning, personal care, agriculture, and industrial products. The most commercially advanced types are rhamnolipids, based on rhamnose, and sophorolipids, based on the disaccharide sophorose. Dispersa CEO Nivatha Balendra says the firm is in the process of moving from its 1,000 L pilot plant to a reactor at an undisclosed location that can produce 100 t of product per year. The firm’s main offering is a blend of two sophorolipids made from food waste, aimed primarily at cleaning markets. The scale-up is powered in part by