Seafood production in the United States is continually being eroded by imports from Asia and South America due in large part to these areas ability to produce seafood cheaper than the US.  MSU is developing a processes that could reduce operational cost by eliminating some of the waste disposal costs while providing additional income streams from the sale of other products generated from their waste.  Yeasts are excellent candidate organisms for the bioprocessing for this type of waste because they possess much of the enzymatic machinery to break down the organic constituents that make up this feedstock such as the chitin and proteins.   Another attractive feature that these yeast posses is the ability to accumulate up to 60% of their dry mass in triglycerides.  Recent preliminary work at MSU has demonstrated that Rhodotorula glutinis can produce oil while growing on n-acetyl glucosamine (chitin monomers). The lipids generated by this process could be sold directly into the lipid market for use in the production of biodiesel or renewable diesel.  For example the 165,000,000 lbs of seafood processing waste could be used to produce an estimated 6,000,000 gallons of biodiesel.  In addition to lipids, biodiesel, and glycerol produced by these microorganisms a significant amount of protein will also be generated.  The protein left after the lipids have been harvested from these microorganisms could find a market as an animal feed.