Enhanced sophorolipid production and effective conversion of waste frying oil using dual lipophilic substrates
Abstract A highly efficient sophorolipid (SL) fermentation process using dual lipophilic substrates (DLS) was developed. Using DLS consisting of palm oil and oleic acid in the flask fermentation with SL-producing yeast Starmerella bombicola, the productivity and yield of SL improved 2.4- and 1.7-times, in comparison to when using palm olein alone. In the jar fermentation process with DLS, the SL productivity and yield of 127 g/L and 62.4% was achieved in 7 days, with the complete consumption of residual lipophilic substrates in the culture medium. This process was successfully applied to the effective conversion of waste frying oil to SL, maintaining a high SL productivity and yield of 142.8 g/L and 72% in 9 days. It is concluded that the newly developed fermentation process with DLS can be useful for industrial production of SL from renewable biological sources, especially waste frying oils.