Chemicals used in everyday consumer products are made mainly from petroleum-based feedstocks (not sustainable due to depletion of oil & gas reserves). One group of chemicals used extensively in industry & consumer products are surfactants & emulsifiers (SAs). SAs are molecules that can adsorb to surfaces. In some products, they are used to form oil droplets in water, thus modifying the texture & stability of cosmetic creams or fat-containing foods. In cleaning & personal care products, they act as detergents allowing easy removal of dirt, oil & stains. However, SAs are not without their problems. Their manufacturing produces greenhouse gases, & the chemicals are usually non-biodegradable & toxic, so once in the environment, they can be harmful to aquatic plants & animals. Their “synthetic”, or “chemical” nature is unpopular with consumers as this is associated with unhealthy ingredients .Even current natural SAs are problematic. Some such as monoglycerides are made from palm oil, a product with poor environmental credentials. Similarly, protein emulsifiers such as egg & milk proteins are animal-based products & contribute to greenhouse gases & pollution. Consequently, many consumer goods manufacturers are looking to replace synthetic & non-sustainable SAs with natural molecules, so called biosurfactants & bioemulsifiers to overcome consumer concerns over the effect of SAs on the environment and their own wellbeing.
MARISURF demonstrated the ability of natural biosurfactants & bioemulsifiers to replace SAs of a chemical nature. To do this required the combined expertise of 12 partner organizations from 6 European countries spanning the academic & industrial sectors. These included 5 universities: Heriot Watt (UK), Ulster (UK), Democritus University of Thrace (Greece), Patras (Greece), Northumbria (UK); 4 industrial companies: Bio Base Europe Pilot Plant VZW (Belgium), EcoTechSystens Srl (Italy), Nova-Institut fur politische und okologische innovation GmbH (Germany), Acondicionamiento Tarrasense Association (LEITAT, Spain); & 3 end-user companies: APIVITA SA (cosmetics, Greece), Marlow Foods Ltd (food, UK), Nanoimmunotech SL (nanomedicine, Spain). The breadth of skills available in the consortium contributed to achieving the objectives of Marisurf, namely to,
• discover, characterize & scale up production of novel marine-derived biosurfactants from a large bacterial collection
• develop novel, economic, & eco-friendly biosurfactant & bioemulsifier end-products with commercial applications to replace synthetic counterparts
• demonstrate the functionality of novel biosurfactants & bioemulsifiers in the products of cosmetic, food & nanomedicine end users.
