This is the peer-reviewed version of the following article: Fra-Vázquez, A. , Pedrouso, A. , Palmeiro-Sánchez, T. , Moralejo-Gárate, H. and Mosquera-Corral, A. (2018), Feasible microbial accumulation of triacylglycerides from
crude glycerol. J. Chem. Technol. Biotechnol, 93: 2644-2651, which has been published
in final form at https://doi.org/10.1002/jctb.5618. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived VersionsBACKGROUND: Crude glycerol, a by-product of the biodiesel production industry, was used to produce intracellular storage
polymers for waste valorization. The enrichment of a mixed microbial culture (MMC) in microorganisms with the ability to
accumulate intracellular polymers was performed in a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) submitted to feast–famine conditions.
The effect of different carbon sources in the accumulation of biopolymers was investigated.
RESULTS: A MMC enriched in yeast and bacteria was obtained using crude glycerol as feedstock. Accumulation experiments
performedwith crude glycerol, synthetic glycerol and synthetic methanol showed the feasibility of theMMCto producedifferent
biopolymers. Triacylglyceride (TAG) accumulation up to 46wt% in yeast cellswas promoted by the presence of residual lipids in
crude glycerol. However, bacteria fromclass Betaproteobacteria used glycerol mainly to accumulate 28wt% of polyglucose (PG)
andmethanol as carbon source for cell growth.
CONCLUSIONS: Aswaste valorization, a possible advantage which comes out of the present study is the use of open, non-sterile
and non-defined systems to produce TAGs. These TAGs can potentially re-enter the biodiesel production process helping on the
maximisation of the feedstock used in this processThis research was supported by the Spanish Government (AEI) through FISHPOL (CTQ2014–55021-R) and GRANDSEA (CTM2014–55397-JIN) projects. The authors belong to the Galician Competitive Research Group GRC ED431C 2017/29 and to the CRETUS Strategic Partnership (AGRUP2015/02). All of these programmes are co-funded by the FEDER (EU)S
