Oilfield
The field of oil exploitation requires the use of a large number of surface active agents, most of which are chemical surface active agents.Sophorolipids as a kind of biosurfactant, in addition to chemical surfactants with the general characteristics of the more with its many features.Industrial products Sophorolipids is mainly acid-type and lactone-type mixture.Which can reduce the surface tension of water to 30 to 40 mN / m,The oil-flooding products developed with Sophorolipids as the main component can reduce the interfacial tension to 10-3 or 10-4mN / m,The CMC of 40-100mg / L, far below the general chemical surfactants.Sophorolipids can be used at 120 ℃ under high temperature and high salinity conditions, the surface activity is not affected.In addition, sophorolipids are 100% biodegradable and do not contaminate petroleum and reservoirs.These characteristics make sophorolipids completely suitable for oilfield mining process.
Cosmetics, washing and care
The world’s total annual production of surfactants is about 20 million tons, of which the majority of surfactants used in cosmetics, washing and care products.It exists in almost every product in our lives.But more than 95% of the ingredients are derived from oil and petroleum by-products.Where did they end up?Of course, into the water and soil or even air.They can degrade, but take a long time.National regulators have been aware of the seriousness of the problem,we must expand the green, environmentally friendly products, production capacity and application.Sophorolipids because of its excellent performance and safety and environmental protection features,has been some enterprises used in washing and cosmetics,related products in the European Union, the United States, Japan, China sales.
Sophorolipids can play a role in dispersion, wetting, water retention, lubrication, emulsification, and it is a low foaming surfactant material.Sophorolipids have a mild bactericidal effect, can effectively inhibit the Propionibacterium acnes and Corynebacterium lactoides (in addition to body odor),and at the same time inhibit the activity of lipase, prevent sebum decomposition and produce free fatty acids.Sophorolipids stimulation of dermal fibroblasts of the metabolism and collagen synthesis,inhibition of free radicals and elastase activity,with macrophage activation and fibrinolytic properties,as well as peeling and decolorization。Sophorolipids can also be used to stimulate the synthesis of adipocytin (anti-obesity drugs) to reduce the overload of subcutaneous fat.
Industrial cleaning
Sophorolipids have good surface activity and can be used for the cleaning of industrial equipment, buildings, ground and airplanes, vehicles and ships. It is a low foaming surfactant, easy to rinse, and can be naturally degraded without recycling.
Soil remediation
Soil pollution is undoubtedly one of the greatest environmental damage caused by human activities, whether through replacement or other methods of repair regeneration is not easy.At present, mankind mainly pollutes two kinds of land, one is industrial land, the other is agricultural land, agricultural land is particularly important, because it can directly into the food chain.These contaminated soils are a serious threat to human health and environmental safety, has become an urgent need to address the problem.
Organic pollution and heavy metal pollution are the most important types of soil pollution.Repair technology is also mainly biodegradable and leaching and other methods.Surfactants are used in these processes, and biosurfactants have been recognized as the best choice to avoid secondary contamination.Biosurfactant has become a popular research object in soil remediation because of its environmental friendliness, wide compatibility, high elution efficiency and 100% biodegradability.Sophorolipids, as one of the most mature biosurfactants, has been recognized by experts in related fields. The main mechanisms for its application in the remediation of soil organic contaminants include:
(1)Desorption:Mainly the use of surface activity to achieve the purpose. By reducing the interfacial tension between water and soil, water and organic contaminants, pollutants and soil, the pollutants are separated from the soil surface, so as to achieve the purpose of elution.After the pollutant desorption, can continue to process the next step, focus on the collection or biochemical treatment. The amount of sophorolipids used in this process is only required to reach a critical micelle concentration (CMC) or less.
(2) Solubilization:The distribution of organic pollutants by micelles increases the concentration of organic contaminants in the aqueous phase, that is, increases the solubility of organic contaminants.So that the pollutants after washing down to facilitate the collection and in the water by microbial degradation. This process uses sophorolipids with a concentration of CMC and higher.
Animal feed
Adding biosurfactant in animal feed can promote the distribution of grease in the intestine to form chylomicrons, enlarge the contact area between fat and lipase, and improve the digestion and absorption of fat.At present, the emulsifier added to feed mainly glucoside esters, bile salts and phospholipids, mostly chemical synthesis or derived from animals and plants.Recently, some companies in the US and China have successfully applied Sophorolipids biosurfactant to animal feed.Sophorolipids used in animal feed in addition to the above-mentioned role, but also has antibacterial, anti-disease, the role of growth promotion.At the same time Sophorolipid biosurfactant increased the efficiency of other ingredients in the feed, part of the added ingredients can reduce the amount of 1/3 or more.
Sophorolipids biosurfactant can be used in poultry, livestock, aquaculture and other aquaculture.
Agriculture
1)Fertilizer synergism
Fertilizer applied to the soil, was the season crop utilization remained at between 25-40%, part of the excess fertilizer in the soil, there is a part of the volatile to the nature.So there has been slow release, promote absorption and other technologies. This includes the use of surfactants. Surfactants can form a coating or micro-capsule layer to ensure sustained release, to achieve the purpose of efficient use of fertilizer.Sophorolipids are a better choice than the surfactants currently used. They can also provide a better lipophilicity, facilitating the transport of nutrient ions into the roots of the crop and facilitating absorption. If applied to the plant surface, the droplets can be better spread, increasing the efficiency of leaf absorption.
2)Pesticide emulsification and dosage reduction effect
Most of the components of pesticides are lipophilic, it will use a lot of emulsifier to ensure product stability and conducive to spraying use.Sophorolipids have a good emulsifying properties, can replace the pesticide chemical surfactant ingredients. Its unique plant cell affinity will increase the efficiency of pesticides, the efficiency increased, the natural amount can be reduced.
3)Inhibition of crop pathogens
Crop pathogens are one of the main causes of diseases in the life cycle of crops,will lead to a large number of crop reduction, or even no ,to produce a huge economic losses.At present, the most important measures to combat diseases is the use of fungicides, especially chemical fungicides.But long-term use of chemical fungicides will pollute the atmosphere, water, soil, threat to biodiversity and harm to human health.The new fungicide for ecological and biosecurity is the solution to the development of green ecological agriculture.Through the study of experts found that Sophorolipid has anti-bacterial and crop disease prevention and control role. Why does it have such a role?
It was verified that when the concentration of Sophorolipids was 10g/L, the inhibition of Rhizoctonia solani and Pythium ultimum was inhibited.The inhibition rate of the maximal spore germination of the Magnaporthe grisea was more than 90%,the inhibition rate of the final Pythium reached 98%, almost completely inhibited the growth of hyphae.It was found that the cell wall of spores was incomplete or destroyed after treatment with Sophorolipids,irregular shape, poor mechanical properties, easily broken, cytoplasm concentration leakage, cell aggregation and adhesion together.Similarly, the mycelium treated with sophorolipids, the mycelium top mycelia thickness uneven.Sophorolipids do not require other adjuvants. Sophorolipids are dissolved directly in water prior to use, adjusted to pH7.0, diluted or sprayed directly.3g/L Sophorolipids can reduce the incidence index of cucumber from 77.36% to 19.3%;potato disease index decreased from 31.8% to 11.66, the condition is effectively controlled.
4) Inhibition of the fungus
Sophorolipids on the fungus have a good inhibition.Sophorolipids of 0.5g/L almost completely inhibit the growth of yeast,the fungi on the inhibition rate of mold is also about 60%.2.0g/L when the fungal inhibition rate of more than 80%.At the same time also found that Sophorolipids on mold mycelium and the air micro-organisms have a good inhibitory effect，3.0g/L of Sophorolipids can inhibit the air more than 95% of the microorganisms,the inhibition rate of mycelial growth was more than 70%.At the same time, sophorolipids can also inhibit and delay mycelial spores.The mechanism of antifungal mechanism of Sophorolipids was studied. The mechanism of Sophorolipids is the cell wall of fungus cellulosae.
5) Improved soil
Sophorolipids contain carboxyl groups in the structure, the alkaline soil to improve the role and is a good additive.The degradation process of Sophorolipids is also a process of microbial metabolism in crop soil. When it is degraded, the microbial environment is also growing, which is very important for enhancing soil biological activity and improving compaction.
Water Pollution Control
As a surfactant, sophorolipids help in the separation, diffusion of hydrophobic substances and promote their microbial degradation. In the case of water pollution can be used in the performance of sophorolipids recovery of spilled oil (or other organic pollutants), increasing the rate of biodegradation. In addition, sophorolipids can also be used for civil or industrial sewage treatment plants to help microbial rapid degradation of organic pollutants. Sophorolipids have good environmental compatibility and their high temperature resistance and high salt tolerance make their surface activity less affected by external environment and have great application value in environmental protection.
Preservation fruits and vegetables
Sophorolipids with antibacterial properties, can be used for fruit and vegetable cleaning and preservation. Sophorolipids molecular structure similar to the cell membrane structure, leading to destruction of the cell membrane, is one of the mechanisms of Sophorolipids ester antibacterial mechanism.
Sophorolipids has a significant preservation effect on skin and fruits, such as apples, pears, citrus, cucumbers and tomatoes. The results showed that the treatment of fruit with 3.0g / L Sophorolipids film could reduce the weight loss rate by 6% -10% after 7 days at room temperature.According to the weight loss of 15% to determine, Sophorolipids treatment of fruits and vegetables at room temperature can be extended 3-6 days.The mechanism of Sophorolipids retention is due to its molecular lipophilic side entering the epidermal wax layer of fruits and vegetables, so that the long chain of hydrophilic end is exposed to the air, and the moisturizing effect is achieved.
Inhibition of algae
Reduce the harmful algae and antibacterial activity similar to the harm, Sophorolipids also inhibit the role of algal cell growth.Sun et al. Investigated the irreversible inhibition of Alexandrium tamarense, Heterosigma akashiwo, and Cochlodinium polykrikoides on harmful algae,it was revealed that Sophorolipids can irreversibly damage the cells through the irreversible damage to the cell membrane, and 10 to 20mg/L of Sophorolipids can kill 90% of the algae cells.The synergistic effect of Sophorolipids and loess on the inhibition of harmful algae was confirmed by algae sedimentation test. The best effect was obtained when 5mg/L Sophorolipids was combined with lg/L loess.Under the same conditions, the combined use of sophorolipids and loess was reduced by 25% and 10%, respectively, and the total cost was reduced by 60%.
In nanotechnology
The metal nanoparticles can prevent the polymerization of the metal nanoparticles by the addition of “cap”, and make them uniformly dispersed in the organic solvent or water, so that the nanoparticles get hydrophilic and easy to disperse.These nanoparticles treated with Sophorolipids “cap” can serve as carriers for many biologically active molecules. It has been shown that Sophorolipids with silver nanoparticle coating have antibacterial activity against gram-positive and negative bacteria.
Another application of Sophorolipids in the nanomaterials field is as a structural director.Sophorolipids can form nano-sized particles in water. Sophorolipids have different concentrations and different geometries, and have very high specific surface area and adjustable pore size distribution. These properties can be used to synthesize nano-semi-structured dioxide Silicon thin film structure guide, so Sophorolipids is catalyzed, filtered, remote sensing and photovoltaic electrodes and other aspects of the ideal material.