Production of oleaginous organisms or lipids using sewage water and industrial wastewater

Abstract

Worldwide, wastewater produced from sewage and industry poses a serious risk to the surrounding environment. As a way to address this problem, an integrated approach for cultivation of oleaginous microorganisms on wastewater leading to effective removal of hazardous components and sustainable production of biodiesel is proposed. Oleaginous yeasts have the unique ability to utilize wastewater as feedstock and accumulate large amounts of triacylglycerols within their cellular compartments at stationary phase (144 h). The lipids stored in an oleaginous microbe can be visualized by fluorescence microscopy and converted into biodiesel through transesterification after extraction. Here, we describe the batch cultivation of oleaginous yeast on sewage and industrial wastewater at 25 °C. High lipid accumulation with efficient removal of toxic chemicals can be achieved by utilizing this integrated method.