Bioprocessing of fermentable sugars derived from water hyacinth into microbial lipids and single cell proteins by oleaginous yeast Rhodosporidium toruloides NCIM 3547

In this study, we employed microwave-acid pretreatment for water hyacinth (WH) to obtain liquid hydrolysate that contains sugars derived from holocellulosic components of biomass for further oleaginous yeast fermentation. In order to remove the inhibitors such as furans after acid treatment, detoxification of hydrolysate was done and we compared the efficiency of this step with non-detoxified hydrolysate towards capability of the Rhodosporidium toruloides NCIM 3547 (an oleaginous yeast) to produce microbial lipid and single cell protein. The results indicated that the reducing sugar concentration was found to be higher in non-detoxified hydrolysate (65.41 g/L) than detoxified one (59.18 g/L). When the non-detoxified liquid hydrolysate was supplemented with yeast extract as a complex organic source for R. toruloides, resulted in a maximum lipid yield of about 0.813 ± 0.041 (g/g) and 53.60 ± 2.68 (g/g) of single cell protein content with 0.038 g/L/d of protein productivity. Two kinetic models, hybrid Logistic-Monod and Luedeking-Piret, were employed to assess the microbial growth and the substrate utilization that were found to be in well agreement with the experimental data with a coefficient of determination (R2) value ranging from 0.95 to 0.99 thereby demonstrating the efficiency of the hydrolysate supplemented media. Furthermore, GC-MS analysis of transesterified lipids revealed the presence of various FAME (fatty acid methyl esters) and also the presence of increased levels of total saturated fatty acids (35.03%) advocates its high potential in biodiesel production. This study demonstrates the feasibility of sustainable valorization of WH-derived liquid hydrolysate towards a greener biorefinery framework