S86: Production and economics of biofuels production using microbial lipids

Although most of the emphasis of renewable fuels at present is on production from agricultural resources, it is the microbial sources that offer most potential for replacing fossil fuels. In order for this to materialize, however, the microbial raw materials for fuels must be economically competitive. Our bioprocessing research group has been focusing on production of microbial lipids using heterotrophic yeasts as well as phototrophic algae. For these processes, we have identified several steps with major cost impact on production and have successfully reduced costs in some of the steps. These will be the topic of this presentation. Impact of specific improvements on reducing costs of microbial lipids will be discussed.