Abstract
The agri-food industry annually produces huge amounts of crops residues and wastes, the suitable management of these products is important to increase the sustainability of agro-industrial production by optimizing the entire value chain. This is also in line with the driving principles of the circular economy, according to which residues can become feedstocks for novel processes. Oleaginous yeasts represent a versatile tool to produce biobased chemicals and intermediates. They are flexible microbial factories able to grow on different side-stream carbon sources such as those deriving from agri-food wastes, and this characteristic makes them excellent candidates for integrated biorefinery processes through the production of microbial lipids, known as single cell oils (SCOs), for different applications. This review aims to present an extensive overview of research progress on the production and use of oleaginous yeasts and present discussions on the current bottlenecks and perspectives of their exploitation in different sectors, such as foods, biofuels and fine chemicals.
Highlights
Free fatty acids (FAs) can be used for energy purposes and metabolized in peroxisomes by β-oxidation process or they can be incorporated into lipidic structures for storage
Huang et al [71] tested a strain of R. toruloides (AS 2.1389), using acetate as the sole carbon source and found a strong inhibition at high concentrations of acetate, while between 5 gL−1 and 20 gL−1 R. torudoiles showed better lipid performance than growth performed on glucose media
Nitrogen limitation is reported as the main factor affecting the lipid accumulation in oleaginous microorganisms, but other parameters influencing the metabolism are involved in lipid accumulation
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Single cell oils (SCOs) have attracted scientific and industrial attention as a consequence of their potential to replace fossil-based oils for multiple applications as “building blocks” for the synthesis of fuels, soaps, plastics, paints, detergents, textiles, rubbers, surfactants, lubricants, and additives for the food and cosmetic industry [3]. These oils have fatty acids (FAs) compositions similar to those of vegetable oils but they are considered more sustainable thanks to some advantages with respect to vegetable oils. The review will provide detailed information on the conversion of different agro-industrial residues and byproducts, such as lignocellulosic residues, CW, OMW, FW, along with analyses of the process aspects affecting the microorganisms’ performance
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