Lipid accumulation from Trichosporon oleaginosus with co-fermentation of washed wastewater sludge and crude glycerol

In this study, two types of organic waste including sludge and crude glycerol were employed for lipid production from oleaginous yeast Trichosporon oleaginosus. As wastewater sludge contains metals and other substances, which could inhibit growth of the microorganisms, sludge washing was performed to reduce/remove the substance in order to enhance the lipid production in this study. The results revealed that the lipid production by Trichosporon oleaginosus was higher in the medium prepared using washed sludge fortified with glycerol compared to that of the unwashed sludge fortified with glycerol. The maximum biomass and lipid concentrations were 44.48 ± 2.34 g/L and 17.37 ± 1.22 g/L, respectively in the fermentation with washed sludge and glycerol and 39.17 ± 2.06 g/L and 14.26 ± 1.17 g/L in the fermentation with unwashed sludge and glycerol. The study showed that sludge washing had improved lipid production from sludge.