Abstract
While the use of oleaginous Rhodotorula glutinis as a feedstock for biodiesel production is an attractive idea, as it can avoid the pollutions associated with over-consumption of fossil fuels. Nevertheless, the related costs, including the energy required for sterilization, remain a barrier to commercialization. This study thus used a low-pH non-sterile medium, instead of a completely sterilized one, to grow R. glutinis in a 5-L airlift bioreactor. The results show that R. glutinis can grow well at a low pH level of 4.0 and without sterilization of the medium, producing a final biomass of 11.7 g/L. Nevertheless, such a low pH will lead to fewer total lipids accumulation, and so a two-stage process of pH control in a non-sterile batch was proposed. Even this two-stage pH operation was also able to produce a similar final biomass of 11.7 g/L. However, the batch with two-stage pH control had a far higher lipid content of 55 ± 4 % as compared to that of 21 ± 3 % in the batch grown at pH 4.0. This study shows the potential of the proposed non-sterile process with two-stage pH control applied to the growth of R. glutinis to enhance the total lipid accumulation.
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Acknowledgments
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support this study received from Taiwan’s Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) under grant number 103-2623-E-029-001-ET and 103-3113-E-006-006.
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Yen, HW., Liao, YT. & Liu, Y.X. The growth of oleaginous Rhodotorula glutinis in an airlift bioreactor on crude glycerol through a non-sterile fermentation process. Bioprocess Biosyst Eng 38, 1541–1546 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00449-015-1396-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00449-015-1396-5