Abstract:Although it is widely studied as a promising bio-surfactant, biosynthesis of Rhamnolipid has not been applied in large-scale due to its high production cost. As a cheap alternative carbon source, waste edible oils have been extensively studied for the production of rhamnolipid. This paper reviewed the recent research in this field, including the influence of various waste edible oils and production, chemical structure and properties of the produced rhamnolipids. With waste edible oils, the maximum production of rhamnolipids was reported to be 24.61 g/L. The lowest surface tension was 24 mN/m and the lowest CMC of the produced rhamnolipids was 40.19 mg/L. In addition, this paper also summarized the effect of various factors on the rhamnolipids biosynthesis, such as bacteria strains, nitrogen sources, trace minerals, dissolved oxygen, pH and fermentation conditions. Based on this, the key points of the mass production of rhamnolipids with waste edible oils were also discussed.