Rhamnolipid is environmentally friendly and has broad market application prospects

Rhamnolipid is a biometabolic biosurfactant produced by Pseudomonas or Burkholderia species. Rhamnolipid is a glycolipid anionic biosurfactant produced by microorganisms. It is soluble in methanol, chloroform and ether, and also has good solubility in alkaline aqueous solutions. Rhamnolipid is non-toxic and has multiple functions such as defoaming, emulsification, and washing. It can be used as a wetting agent, emulsifier, detergent, and foaming agent.

Rhamnolipids can be divided into monorhamnolipids and dirhamnolipids. Due to many influencing factors in the production process, rhamnolipids are generally mixtures. Common structures in the products include disaccharide-dipid structure RL1, disaccharide monolipid Lipid structure RL3, monosaccharide and double lipid structure RL2, etc. In recent years, as environmental protection supervision has become increasingly strict, the demand for environmentally friendly surfactants has grown rapidly, and the rhamnolipid market has ushered in a good opportunity for development.

Rhamnolipids are widely used in agriculture, food, cosmetics, medicine, bioremediation, petroleum and other fields. In the agricultural field, rhamnolipids can improve the soil environment, stimulate crop growth, and prevent insect pests; in the medical field, rhamnolipids can be used to treat skin burns and skin diseases (such as psoriasis); in the food field, rhamnolipids Glycolipids are safe and non-toxic and can be used as bulking agents and flavoring agents. The expansion of application scope and the increase in market demand for green surfactants are beneficial to the development of the rhamnolipid industry.

According to the “2021-2025 Global Rhamnolipid Industry In-depth Market Research and Key Area Research Report released by the Industrial Research Center , Globally, the rhamnolipid market is mainly concentrated in Europe, North America and the Asia-Pacific region. Related production companies include Lion, Henkel, AGAE Technologies, etc. The main rhamnolipid suppliers in my country include Xibao Biotechnology, Xi’an Ruijie Biotechnology, Wuhan Kmic Biomedicine, Sichuan Sansen Biotechnology, etc.

As a new type of surfactant, rhamnolipids have promising application prospects. In recent years, against the background of the vigorous development of the bioeconomy, the number of companies entering this market has continued to increase. For example, in 2019, Unilever and Evonik Industries reached a cooperation to jointly develop rhamnolipids in Slovakia. In January 2022, Evonik Industries announced that the company was investing hundreds of millions of euros to build the world’s first rhamnolipid. Lipid scale production plant for the production of bio-based and fully biodegradable rhamnolipids, which is scheduled to be commissioned within two years.

Industry analysts said that rhamnolipid is green, environmentally friendly, non-toxic, safe, natural and has high performance. It is currently the biosurfactant with the most mature application technology and the longest research time. Rhamnolipids have a wide range of applications. Under the strategic goals of carbon neutrality and carbon peaking, the rhamnolipids market has broad development space. The global rhamnolipid market is still in its early stages of development, but as the number of companies entering the market increases, the scale of rhamnolipid production will further expand.