Abstract

                               An investigation was made to identify and screen an efficient oleaginous yeast, which could accumulate high level of lipid in its biomass by using sago processing waste water as substrate. A total of three isolates obtained from sago waste water sample were screened for their ability to utilize starch by amylase secretion. Of which, the isolate ASY1, identified as tropicalis by 18s rRNA sequencing was found to be positive for amylase activity. The yeast isolate ASY1 was cultivated in production medium and sago waste water for 84 h. Later, kinetic analyses of various parameters like pH, biomass, amylase, starch, protein and cellular lipid were carried out. The comparative data revealed that the lipid content in production medium and sago waste water was 48.96 and 29.41%, respectively. The starch utilization was found to be 12.58 and 4.38 g.L-1 in production medium and sago waste water, respectively. Therefore, Candida tropicalis isolate ASY1 (Accession number: MF668256) could be a potential candidate for next generation biodiesel production.

Key words : Oleaginous yeast, Sago waste water, Biolipid, Biodiesel production.