In recent decades, biosurfactants have gained a variety of applications in the agro-industrial and environmental sectors. Advances in microbial bioprocessing can address global demand for biosurfactants by intensifying processes on co-production with lipases, enhancing their applications in agro-industrial and environmental sectors. Key challenges in the co-production of lipases and biosurfactants include inefficiencies in resource utilization, recycling, market value retention and environmental impacts. Waste oil cakes from food processing, ayurvedic and petrochemical industries can be used as substrates for lipases and biosurfactants, promoting resource recovery and the circular economy. Though this strategy increases the production rate and the economy associated with this, the key bottlenecks are the stability of the products, understanding the co-metabolism, simultaneous process intensification methods, scaling up, and its end application. This review explores the potential of the circular economy principles, including waste reduction, resource recovery, and resource conservation, to co-produce lipases and biosurfactants. The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is discussed in this review to incorporate environmental sustainability in the cumulative production system for lipases and biosurfactants. Adopting a circular economy is beneficial for achieving a balance between economic growth and environmental sustainability in bioprocessing. © 2025 Elsevier Ltd
