From sewage scum up to lipids production using oleaginous yeasts as biocatalysts

The aim of this work was the valorization of the hydrolysate obtained through enzymatic hydrolysis of sewage scum toward the production of single-cell oils, using a biological catalytic approach based on oleaginous yeasts fermentation. Trichosporon oleaginosus was used as a biocatalyst for the fermentative process of undetoxified real substrate. At the end of the fermentations, standard acidic cell lysis and liquid-to-liquid extraction of single-cell oils were carried out, and the main outputs of the bioprocesses were calculated, including intracellular lipid content. Adopting this yeast, the single-cell oils accumulation of 45.6 wt% was achieved. The FAMEs profile of single-cell oils obtained in this investigation resulted very similar to those of common vegetable oils, used at the industrial scale for commercial applications, including the production of traditional biodiesel.