A by-product of biodiesel production could help grow more feedstock for the green fuel’s production. This article from Biofuels Digest says Purthanol Resources Ltd has produced lipids with yeast or fungi cultivated in fermentors and fed using glycerin, and those lipids could end up being another feedstock for biodiesel production.
Oleaginous yeast and fungi were isolated and tested to produce lipids.
A high lipid content (> 50% w / w biomass) was observed.
So we went from autotrophic production bioreactors to heterotrophic production fermenters.
Another unexpected benefit of this technology is that this production system uses crude glycerol by product of biodiesel production or sweet water by product of Purthanol Resources ethanol production as a carbon source.
The basis of this project is the use of by-product of the biodiesel or ethanol production (glycerol or sweet water) as a feedstock for the growth of yeasts and fungi.
A fully functional plant using this process is expected to be set up within the next year.