Harnessing pongamia shell hydrolysate for triacylglycerol agglomeration by novel oleaginous yeast Rhodotorula pacifica INDKK.

Background To meet the present transportation demands and solve food versus fuel issue, microbial lipid-derived biofuels are gaining attention worldwide. This study is focussed on high-throughput screening of oleaginous yeast by microwave-aided Nile red spectrofluorimetry and exploring pongamia shell hydrolysate (PSH) as a feedstock for lipid production using novel oleaginous yeast Rhodotorula pacifica INDKK. Results A new oleaginous yeast R. pacifica INDKK was identified and selected for microbial lipid production. R. pacifica INDKK produced maximum 12.8 ± 0.66 g/L of dry cell weight and 6.78 ± 0.4 g/L of lipid titre after 120 h of growth, showed high tolerance to pre-treatment-derived inhibitors such as 5-hydroxymethyl furfural (5-HMF), (2 g/L), furfural (0.5 g/L) and acetic acid (0.5 g/L), and ability to assimilate C3, C5 and C6 sugars. Interestingly, R. pacifica INDKK showed higher lipid accumulation when grown in alkali-treated saccharified PSH (AS-PSH) (0.058 ± 0.006 g/L/h) as compared to acid-treated detoxified PSH (AD-PSH) (0.037 ± 0.006 g/L/h) and YNB medium (0.055 ± 0.003 g/L/h). The major fatty acid constituents are oleic, palmitic, linoleic and linolenic acids with an estimated cetane number (CN) of about 56.7, indicating the good quality of fuel. Conclusion These results suggested that PSH and R. pacifica INDKK could be considered as potential feedstock for sustainable biodiesel production.