Erythritol production from crude glycerol by Yarrowia lipolytica

Abstract

Erythritol, a low-calorie sugar alcohol with applications in the food and pharmaceutical industries, is traditionally produced through chemical synthesis. However, biotechnological methods using microorganisms such as Yarrowia lipolytica offer a sustainable alternative. In the present study the erythritol production from crude glycerol was carried out using the Yarrowia lipolytica strain MTCC 9518, MTCC 9519, MTCC 9520, and MTCC, 9521. Erythritol and mannitol production, as well as, cellular growth and glycerol consumption were monitored for 7 days. Y. lipolytica species MTCC 9519 proved to be the most suitable for the production of erythritol, under the tested conditions, being the strains Y. lipolytica (MTCC 9518) and Y. lipolytica MTCC 9520 the ones that produced the highest concentration (23 and 29g·L-1), leading to highest yield (38 % w/w) and productivity of erythritol (0.15 and 0.11 g·L-1h -1. The best results of erythritol concentration (56 g·L-1), yield (42 % w/w) and productivity (0.37 g·L-1·h-1) were obtained in the experiments with Y. lipolytica 9519.