Use of Wastewaters from Ethanol Distilleries and Glycerol Mixtures for Microbial Oils Production

Evelyn Faife Perez

doi:10.11648/j.bio.20160404.11

Abstract

Biodiesel has become more attractive in recent years because of its environmental benefits. One way to reduce the high cost of biodiesel is by lowering the cost of raw materials specially oils. Recently, much attention has been paid to the development of microbial oils through cultures of oleaginous microorganisms in inexpensive substrates as the wastewaters of some food industries and the crude glycerol from biodiesel production itself. Thus, cultivation of oleaginous yeasts in glycerol-based media is attracting great interest and natural biodiversity is increasingly explored to identify novel oleaginous species recycling this carbon source for growth and lipid production. Identification of oleaginous yeasts and the evaluation in glycerol and vinasse mixtures was employed to produce biomass enriched in microbial lipids and to remove nutrients from vinasse simultaneously. The fatty acid composition of the lipids was similar to that from plant oils and other microbial lipids therefore they can be used as raw material for feed additives and biodiesel production.

Highlights

The conventional method for biodiesel production is the transesterification of plant oils with methanol
Serial dilutions in distilled water were made until 10-3 and 0.1 mL diluted culture was isolated on YPG agar medium using spread plate technique for 48 – 72 h at 30°C
The results shown that R. mucilaginous strain reached the highest value of biomass concentration, yield and specific growth rate in evaluated glycerol concentrations

Summary

Introduction

The conventional method for biodiesel production is the transesterification of plant oils with methanol. The cost of biodiesel is currently more expensive than that of conventional diesel due to the high cost share (70 - 85%) of the raw material. Increasing interest is being generated to explore ways to reduce the cost of the raw materials. The interest in some microorganisms called oleaginous or “oil bearing” has been renewed, as a source for oils and fats. Yeasts and bacteria are capable of accumulating up to 70% of their dry weight as oil in the form of triacylglycerol. The possibilities of use this oil as a feedstock for biodiesel production is considerable [1]

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