Roadmap for the Next Generation of Biomass-Derived Products: Functional Replacement of Surfactants with Biosurfactants

The seminar features Efraín Rodriguez-Ocasio of the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center and UW–Madison’s Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering. The formal abstract is still forthcoming, so the framing below is based on the announced topic and the speaker’s related research.

What You’ll Learn:
How biosurfactants produced from biological and renewable resources could replace conventional petroleum-derived surfactants used across industrial and consumer products. The discussion is expected to explore biotechnology, microbial production, biomass conversion and the technical challenges involved in making renewable alternatives perform effectively at commercial scale.

Why This Matters:
Surfactants are used throughout manufacturing, cleaning products, agriculture, cosmetics and other industries, but many conventional versions depend on fossil-based feedstocks. Developing functional biological replacements could help reduce fossil-resource dependence while creating new uses for biomass, biological manufacturing and potentially waste-derived feedstocks. Rodriguez-Ocasio’s related research has demonstrated microorganisms capable of producing biosurfactants while converting difficult carbon sources, including depolymerized plastics.

DISCOVER

Primary purpose: Discover emerging biotechnology that could replace conventional industrial chemicals with renewable, biologically produced alternatives.

There is also a strong LEARN component for researchers, product developers and organizations exploring biomanufacturing and circular-material solutions.

What You’ll Leave With:
A clearer understanding of what biosurfactants are, how biological systems can produce them, where they could replace conventional surfactants, and what scientific and commercial challenges must be overcome to move these technologies toward widespread use.

Best For:
Researchers · Technology Professionals · Systems Designers · Social Entrepreneurs · Businesses · Investors / Funders · Educators · Students · Policymakers · NGOs / Civil Society · Journalists / Media

Especially relevant for biotechnology researchers, chemical manufacturers, materials scientists, bioproduct developers, circular-economy innovators and organizations working to replace fossil-based chemicals.

Systems It Connects To:
Circularity & Whole-System Design · Bioeconomy · Biotechnology · Advanced Materials · Biomass & Bioproducts · Clean Manufacturing · Waste & Resource Recovery · Food & Agriculture · Public & Planetary Health · Climate & Environment · Research & Innovation

Mobilized connection:
This event illustrates a fundamental shift from extract → manufacture → discard toward biology → renewable feedstocks → functional products → circular resource flows. Instead of asking how to make conventional chemicals slightly less damaging, the research asks a more transformative question: Can biology provide the same function using renewable resources and entirely different production systems?

That makes it a strong example of whole-system redesign at the materials level—changing not only the product, but where its ingredients come from, how they are produced, and what happens to resources throughout their lifecycle.