Production of Omega-3 Fatty Acids from the Microalga Crypthecodinium cohnii by Utilizing Both Pentose and Hexose Sugars from Agricultural Residues

Georgia Asimakopoulou,Anthi Karnaouri,Evangelos Topakas,Angelos A Lappas,Stylianos D Stefanidis,Savvas Staikos,Konstantinos G Kalogiannis

doi:10.3390/fermentation7040219

Georgia Asimakopoulou, Anthi Karnaouri + Show 5 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/fermentation7040219

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Abstract

The core objective of this work was to take advantage of the unexploited wheat straw biomass, currently considered as a broadly available waste stream from the Greek agricultural sector, towards the integrated valorization of sugar streams for the microbial production of polyunsaturated omega-3 fatty acids (PUFAs). The OxiOrganosolv pretreatment process was applied using acetone and ethanol as organic solvents without any additional catalyst. The results proved that both cellulose-rich solid pulp and hemicellulosic oligosaccharides-rich aqueous liquid fraction after pretreatment can be efficiently hydrolyzed enzymatically, thus resulting in high yields of fermentable monosaccharides. The latter were supplied as carbon sources to the heterotrophic microalga Crypthecodinium cohnii for the production of PUFAs, more specifically docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). The solid fractions consisted mainly of hexose sugars and led to higher DHA productivity than their pentose-rich liquid counterparts, which can be attributed to the different carbon source and C/N ratio in the two streams. The best performance was obtained with the solid pulp pretreated with ethanol at 160 °C for 120 min and an O2 pressure of 16 bar. The total fatty acids content reached 70.3 wt% of dried cell biomass, of which 32.2% was DHA. The total DHA produced was 7.1 mg per g of untreated wheat straw biomass.

Highlights

IntroductionBiomass is considered one of the most low-cost and largest sources of carbon, rendering it the most important raw material with great potential to support the development of a bio-based economy
As organic solvents in the pretreatment of various lignocellulosic biomass residues has been widely reported in the literature, since they are milder and green solvents that can be recovered and reused, making the whole process sustainable and applicable on an industrial scale [31,32,33]. They have the ability to cleave the bonds between lignin and hemicellulose during the organosolv pretreatment and to remove hemicellulose and solubilize the lignin, thereby causing an increase in surface area and pore volume of cellulose, which renders cellulose more accessible to enzymatic hydrolysis [34]
Hexose- and pentose-rich streams after organosolv pretreatment and fractionation of wheat straw with ACO and EtOH were used as carbon sources for

Summary

Introduction

Biomass is considered one of the most low-cost and largest sources of carbon, rendering it the most important raw material with great potential to support the development of a bio-based economy. This renewable feedstock can contribute to the production of versatile and value-added products in either stand-alone processors or biorefineries [1]. The present study focuses on agricultural residues and on wheat straw from Greek wheat fields, aiming to exploit the maximum potential of lignocellulosic-derived sugar streams valorization Towards this direction, the choice of integrated processes for the conversion of all sugar streams is considered to be of paramount importance.

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