Lipid recovery from a vegetable oil emulsion using microbial enrichment cultures

Lipid recovery from a vegetable oil emulsion using microbial enrichment cultures

Tamis, J.
Sorokin, D.Y.
Jiang, Y.
Van Loosdrecht, M.C.M.
Kleerebezem, R.

Applied Sciences

BT/Biotechnology

2015-03-10

Background Many waste streams have a relatively high vegetable oil content, which is a potential resource that should be recovered. Microbial storage compound production for the recovery of lipids from lipid-water emulsions with open (unsterilized) microbial cultures was investigated in a sequencing batch reactor using a diluted vegetable oil emulsion as model substrate. Results After feeding, triacylglycerides (TAG) were accumulated intracellular by the microbial enrichment culture and subsequently used for growth in the remainder of the sequencing batch cycle. Roughly 50% of the added TAG could be recovered as intracellular lipids in this culture. The maximum lipid storage capacity of the enrichment culture was 54% on volatile suspended solids (VSS) mass basis in a separate fed-batch accumulation experiment. The microbial community was dominated by a lipolytic fungus, Trichosporon gracile, that was responsible for intracellular lipid accumulation but also a significant fraction of lipolytic and long chain fatty-acid-utilizing bacteria was present. Conclusion Herewith, we demonstrate an effective strategy for enrichment of a microbial community that can accumulate significant amounts of lipids from wastewaters without the need for sterilization of substrates or equipment. Further optimization of this process will make recovery of lipids from wastewater possible.

vegetable oil
storage compounds
microbial enrichment culture
feast-famine
resource recovery
OA-Fund TU Delft

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:e7e53762-55a7-4017-8d1e-3ea6ec649471

https://doi.org/10.1186/s13068-015-0228-9

BioMed Central

1754-6834

http://www.biotechnologyforbiofuels.com/content/8/1/39

Biotechnology for Biofuels, 8, 2015

Institutional Repository

journal article

© 2015 The Author(s)
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited.