Paper Title: Pollutants Bioremediation Using Biosurfactants: A Novel Approach for Improving Soil Health Authors Varun Dhiman,

Soil Health and Environmental Sustainability: Application of Geospatial Technology

Anand Giri

Heavy metals and hydrocarbons are considered significant soil pollutants. Their continued interaction with soil biota represents a genuine risk to the soil ecosystem. Subsequently, the removal of these toxins is a must to improve soil health and henceforth utilization of biosurfactants gives an option yet amazing novel methodology for remediation of contaminated soil. Attributable to exceptionally different applications, biosurfactants end up being profoundly viable in managing the persisting challenge. Biosurfactants are a group of surface-active substances produced by microorganisms that have a wide range of structural characteristics and amphiphilic structure in nature. Because of their potential benefits, biosurfactants are widely employed in a variety of industries, including agriculture, food production, chemistry, cosmetics, and pharmaceutics. Different examples determine the efficiency of biosurfactants in soil bioremediation. Recent studies found that bacterial biosurfactants remove aliphatic and aromatic compounds from oil-contaminated soil with the removal efficiency of 81.6% and 43.8% respectively. It has been further observed that the precipitation method using biosurfactant solution can remove heavy metals (zinc, arsenic, and cadmium) from the affected soil with 84.5–100% efficacy. The current chapter provides a comprehensive overview of biosurfactant production by microbes and their role in heavy metal and hydrocarbon remediation from polluted soil.