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In view of ever-growing demand of biodiesel, there is an urgent need to look for inexpensive and promising renewable raw material oils for its production. In this context, the aim of this study was to evaluate the potential use of industrial wastes for low-cost production of oils through microbial fermentation. Among the strains tested, Yarrowia lipolytica grew best and produced highest lipid when grown on decanter effluent from palm oil mill. When crude glycerol by-product from a biodiesel plant was added into the effluent as a co-substrate, Y. lipolytica produced a higher biomass of 3.21 g/L and a higher amount of lipid of 2.21 g/L which was 68 % of the dry weight. The scale up and process improvement in a 5-L bioreactor increased the biomass and lipid up to 5.53 and 2.81 g/L, respectively. A semi-continuous mode of operation was an effective mode for biomass enhancement while a fed-batch mode was effective for lipid enhancement. These yeast lipids have potential to be used as biodiesel feedstocks because of their similar fatty acid composition to that of plant oil.

Palm empty fruit bunches (EFBs) are abundant lignocellulosic wastes from palm oil mills. They are potential sources of sugars which can be converted to microbial lipids by oleaginous yeasts. To produce sugars from EFB, two-step and one-step hydrolysis reactions were performed. In the first step, the use of diluted sulfuric acid (0.5 % w/v) hydrolyzed hemicelluloses and released mainly pentoses, and in the second step of hydrolysis of residual pulp using 2.5 % (w/v), sulfuric acid released more hexoses. The use of 2.5 % (w/v) sulfuric acid in one-step hydrolysis of holocelluloses released the highest amount of sugars (38.3 g/L), but it also produced high concentration of potential inhibitors (>1 g/L). Three oleaginous yeasts, Rhodotorula mucilaginosa, Kluyveromyces marxianus, and Candida tropicalis, were isolated and screened for their ability to convert EFB hydrolysates into lipids. These yeasts grew well and produced lipids from EFB hemicellulose and holocellulose hydrolysate after potential inhibitors were removed. This study shows that EFB can be used for lipid production.