ARS | Publication request: THE USE OF FATS, OILS AND COPRODUCTS FOR FERMENTATIVE PRODUCTION OF POLY(HYDROXYALKANOATES) BIOPOLYMER AND SOPHOROLIPID BIOSURFACTANTS

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: June 6, 2006
Publication Date: July 11, 2006
Citation: Solaiman, D., Ashby, R.D., Zerkowski, J.A., Foglia, T.A., Marmer, W.N. 2006. The use of fats, oils and coproducts for fermentative production of poly(hydroxyalkanoates) biopolymer and sophorolipid biosurfactants. 3rd World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioprocessing. p. 47.

Technical Abstract: For 2004/5 the annual world production of fats and oils was approximately 136 million metric tons. Most of this production was targeted for food and feed consumption, with only a small proportion being allocated for industrial and/or fuel uses. Separately, the production and utilization of fats and oils often result in the generation of valuable secondary coproducts such as soy molasses from the processing of soybeans and a glycerol-rich coproduct stream from biodiesel production. Accordingly, there is a significant potential for expanding the usage of fats and oils and their coproducts into non-food industrial applications. One area that has not been explored in detail is the use of fats, oils and their coproducts as low cost fermentative feedstocks for the production of environmentally benign biopolymers and biosurfactants. In this presentation, we demonstrate the use of these agricultural lipids and their coproducts as feedstocks to fermentatively produce structurally tailored poly(hydroxyalkanoates) (PHA) and sophorolipids (SL). We show also that sophorolipids can be subsequently modified chemically into derivatives that further expand their potential applications. These studies lay down valuable groundwork for future development of an integrative bioprocess to produce tailor-made biomaterials from fats, oils and their coproduct feedstocks.