HORIZON EUROPE SURFs UP Project: Microbial and lignin-based biosurfactants, safe and sustainable by design, obtained from sustainable raw materials for home, personal care and agrochemical applications.

Today, only 4% of the surfactant market share is made up of 100% biomass-based compounds (fully bio-based surfactants, or biosurfactants), while there is an urgent need for non-hazardous, safe, and sustainable by design (SSbD) biosurfactants (BS). The biosurfactant market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 5.2–10.5% between 2022 and 2028. However, the diversity of safe and sustainable biosurfactants currently available is nowhere near sufficient to meet market needs: diversity is key.

The SURFs UP project aims to close this gap by demonstrating optimized and cost-effective processes for nine second-generation (2G) SSbD biosurfactant products that will be formulated into prototypes for agrochemical, personal care, and home care applications. The 2G feedstocks will include wood processing waste (sugars and lignin) and regional industrial or food (processing) wastes. The nine SURF UP ingredients are:

1. 7 microbial biosurfactants, i.e., 2 immediate-release sophorolipids, 2 new-to-market sophorolipid-type biosurfactants, 1 new-to-market mannosylerythritol lipid, and 2 new-to-market lipopeptides.
2. Two new-to-market BSs chemically produced from lignin from wood processing waste. These ingredients will be fully characterized (physicochemical properties) and evaluated according to the SSbD Framework criteria and (eco)toxicity testing. SSbD BS production will be scaled up (among other things, in the SURFs UP DEMO plant to be built) and used to demonstrate prototype formulations in the aforementioned applications.

Particular attention will be paid to the cost-effective and sustainable production/use of SURFs UP SSbD biosurfactants, assessed within comprehensive TEAs and LCAs. Finally, SURFs UP will operationalize the EC SSbD Framework for the development of novel BS and will work on all aspects, considering social awareness and acceptance of these products, by organizing consumer surveys, engaging stakeholders, policymakers, and using social media tools.