Recent advances in microbial biopolymer production and purification

Over the past decades a large amount of biopolymers originating from various types of microorganisms have been reported. With ongoing research the number of possible applications has increased rapidly, ranging from use as food additives and biomedical agents to biodegradable plastics from renewable resources. In spite of the plethora of applications, the large-scale introduction of biopolymers into the market has often been forestalled by high production costs mainly due to complex or inefficient downstream processing. In this article, state-of-the-art methods and recent advances in the separation and purification of microbial polymers are reviewed, with special focus on the biopolymers, γ-polyglutamic acid and xanthan gum. Furthermore, a study of the general factors affecting production and purification is presented, including biopolymer rheology, enzymatic degradation and production of biopolymer mixtures.