7-01: Biodiesel from yeast

Concerns about future of petroleum supplies, rise in crude oil price, global warming have invoked significant impetus in the search for alternative fuels. One of the significant alternative fuel is biodiesel.  Biodiesel (fatty acid methyl esters) can be produced from biological, renewable resources that are biodegradable and non-toxic and can be used directly or can be blended at any level with petroleum diesel. One of the promising feed stock for biodiesel production is microbial oil, specifically yeast oil.  Compared to other vegetable oils, animal fats, algal oil,  the production of yeast oil has many advantages like short life cycle, less labor intensive, independent of venue, season and climate, and easier to scale up. The oleaginous yeast, Cryptococcus curvatus has attracted considerable attention due to its ability to accumulate oil that is 60% of its dry weight. Optimization for improved oil production and oil extraction, conversion to biodiesel is the focus of this paper. Fatty acid profile of C. curvatus oil was comparable with that of the most popular biodiesel source in India, Jatropha oil, confirming its suitability for the production of biodiesel.