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Biofuels and high value added products from the yeast Rhodosporidium toruloides NCYC 921: Strategies towards a true cost-effective and environmentally sustainable integrated multiproduct driven biorefinery [Poster]

Publication . Reis, Alberto; Dias, Carla; Caldeira, João; Teles, Marta; Oliveira, Bruno; Passarinho, Paula; Silva, Teresa Lopes da

Single-cell oils (SCO) have been considered a promising source of 3rd generation biofuels mainly in the final form of biodiesel. However, its high production costs have been a barrier towards the commercialization of this commodity. The fast growing yeast Rhodosporidium toruloides NCYC 921 has been widely reported as a potential SCO producing yeast. In addition to its well-known high lipid content (that can be converted into biodiesel), is rich in high value added products such as carotenoids with commercial interest. The process design and integration may contribute to reduce the overall cost of biofuels and carotenoid production and is a mandatory step towards their commercialization. The present work addresses the biomass disruption, extraction, fractionation and recovery of products with special emphasis on high added valued carotenoids (beta-carotene, torulene, torularhodin) and fatty acids directed to biodiesel. The chemical structure of torularhodin with a terminal carboxylic group imposes an additional extra challenge in what concern its separation from fatty acids. The proposed feedstock is fresh biomass pellet obtained directly by centrifugation from a 5L fed-batch fermentation culture broth. The use of a wet instead of lyophilised biomass feedstock is a way to decrease processing energy costs and reduce downstream processing time. These results will contribute for a detailed process design. Gathered data will be of crucial importance for a further study on Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA).

2015Conference object

Open access

Co-digestion of Rhodosporidium toruloides biorefinery wastes for biogas production

Publication . Batista, Ana Paula; Coelho, Aldo; Silva, Teresa Lopes da; Marques, Isabel Paula

ABSTRACT: Rhodosporiodum toruloides NCYC 921 yeast biorefinery is able to simultaneously provide a gaseous energy carrier, lipids and high-value carotenoids, either using glucose or carob pulp syrup as carbon source in the cultivation step for biomass production. The resulting leftover materials from the yeast biorefinery (YR- de-oiled yeast biomass residue, GS- glucose supernatant, CS- carob supernatant and CR- carob residue) were valued through anaerobic digestion in different mixtures, according to the generated effluents volume. Biogas productions of 55, 31 and 29 mL and methane yield of 236, 179 and 144 mL CH4/g substrate volatile solids (VS) were recorded for the studied mixtures MIX I (YR + GS), MIX II (YR + CS) and MIX III (YR + CS + CR) respectively. The comparison between the biogas production and volatile solids removal obtained for the individual substrates and for the admixtures substrates digestions revealed that co-digestion favoured the conversion of the biorefinery wastes into biogas/methane. Flow cytometry analysis of cells stained with propidium iodide revealed that the proportion of cells with injured membrane was lower in the substrate mixtures digestions than in the individual waste digestions, indicating that co-digestion mitigates the negative effect of potential toxic compounds present in the wastes or produced during the process digestion on the microbial consortium.

2018Journal article

Open access