YEAST MICROBIAL OIL FROM BIODIESEL WASTE GLYCEROL: A PROMISING TOOL FOR BIOREFINERY ENHANCEMENT

摘要

Oil and its derivatives are materials of high importance as they fire the fuel, pharmaceutical and foodrnindustry. More oil is needed in order to satisfy the demand, preferably from alternative oil sources free fromrncompetition with land and food issues, which at the same time are environmentally friendly. Oleaginousrnmicroorganisms, especially yeasts ‘have the edge’ over traditional oil sources since they can achieve high cell densityrnin short periods, are not affected by climate, provide high oil yields with similar composition to vegetable oils andrncan consume a variety of substrates, even waste. In this study, glycerol was used as carbon source in fermentation ofrnoleaginous yeast, of whichthe growth and oil yield were evaluated according to effect of different bioprocessingrnconditions on its growth and lipid accumulation. A combination of experimental and computational studies is used torndesign and evaluate the efficiency of the process. Results indicate that high C-to-N initial ratios promote lipidrnaccumulation and aerationimproves the process kinetics in different extent according to the aeration rate.Therefore,rnmicrobial oil from glycerol has the potential to be applied in large scale and enhance the profitability of biodieselrnindustry.