Daniel K.Y. Solaiman, Richard D. Ashby, Jonathan W. Zerkowski, Thomas A. Foglia, and William N. Marmer. Eastern Regional Research Center, ARS, USDA, 600 E. Mermaid Ln., Wyndmoor, PA 19038
Glycolipids are secondary
metabolites produced by many microorganisms.
They are environmentally “green” compounds useful as biosurfactants,
cosmetic active-ingredients, antimicrobial agents, and enhancers for
bioremediation and oil recovery operations.
There is a need, however, to lower the cost of producing these microbial
products. Surplus agricultural lipids
and related coproducts such as soy molasses and the glycerol-rich biodiesel coproduct
stream (BCS) are low-cost fermentative feedstocks that can help
lower the production cost of microbial glycolipids. In this talk, we will present our work on the
production of sophorolipids from Candida bombicola using fats, oils, BCS and soy molasses as feedstocks.
Our data show that high productivity and structural variation of
sophorolipids can be achieved when these agro-based feedstocks are used as
substrates in the fermentation process. The
expected outcome of this work is lower cost sophorolipids with structural
properties suitable for specifically targeted applications to benefit the
consumer public.
Web Page:
www.ars.usda.gov/research/projects/projects.htm?accn_no=408630