Scale-up of microbial lipid and bioethanol production from oilcane

Narendra Naik Deshavath; William Woodruff; Fred Eller; Vionna Susanto; Cindy Yang; Christopher V Rao; Vijay Singh

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2024.130594

Scale-up of microbial lipid and bioethanol production from oilcane

Bioresour Technol. 2024 May:399:130594. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2024.130594. Epub 2024 Mar 15.

Authors

Narendra Naik Deshavath¹, William Woodruff², Fred Eller³, Vionna Susanto⁴, Cindy Yang⁵, Christopher V Rao⁶, Vijay Singh⁷

Affiliations

¹ Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA; Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation (CABBI), Department of Energy (DOE), USA. Electronic address: narendra@illinois.edu.
² Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation (CABBI), Department of Energy (DOE), USA; Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA. Electronic address: ww12@illinois.edu.
³ United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research, Functional Foods Research Unit, 1815 N University, Peoria, IL 61604, USA. Electronic address: fred.eller@usda.gov.
⁴ Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation (CABBI), Department of Energy (DOE), USA; Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA. Electronic address: vionnas2@illinois.edu.
⁵ Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation (CABBI), Department of Energy (DOE), USA; Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA. Electronic address: cindy4@illinois.edu.
⁶ Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation (CABBI), Department of Energy (DOE), USA; Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA. Electronic address: cvrao@illinois.edu.
⁷ Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA; Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation (CABBI), Department of Energy (DOE), USA. Electronic address: vsingh@illinois.edu.

PMID: 38493941
DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2024.130594

Abstract

Microbial oils are a sustainable biomass-derived substitute for liquid fuels and vegetable oils. Oilcane, an engineered sugarcane with superior feedstock characteristics for biodiesel production, is a promising candidate for bioconversion. This study describes the processing of oilcane stems into juice and hydrothermally pretreated lignocellulosic hydrolysate and their valorization to ethanol and microbial oil using Saccharomyces cerevisiae and engineered Rhodosporidium toruloides strains, respectively. A bioethanol titer of 106 g/L was obtained from S. cerevisiae grown on oilcane juice in a 3 L fermenter, and a lipid titer of 8.8 g/L was obtained from R. toruloides grown on oilcane hydrolysate in a 75 L fermenter. Oil was extracted from the R. toruloides cells using supercritical CO₂, and the observed fatty acid profile was consistent with previous studies on this strain. These results demonstrate the feasibility of pilot-scale lipid production from oilcane hydrolysate as part of an integrated bioconversion strategy.

Keywords: Biofuels; Bioprocessing; Fermentation; Rhodosporidium toruloides; Supercritical extraction.

MeSH terms

Biofuels
Biomass
Fatty Acids
Saccharomyces cerevisiae*
Saccharum*

Substances

Fatty Acids
Biofuels