Incorporating corn oil refining wastewater improves lipid accumulation and self-settling property of Trichosporon fermentans in corn starch wastewater

• Published in: Separation and purification technology 2021-11, Vol.275, p.119250, Article 119250
• Main Authors: Shi, Yunfen, Liu, Xiaoyu, Jin, Meitong, Chen, Hezhong, Yi, Fan, Wang, Lei, Qiao, Nan, Yu, Dayu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Corn processing wastewater; Degree of sphericity; Dimorphism; Self-settling; Trichosporon fermentans
• ISSN: 1383-5866; 1873-3794
• DOI: 10.1016/j.seppur.2021.119250

[Display omitted] •The wastewater rich in oils was helpful to inhibit of yeast-to-hypha transition.•Mixing corn processing wastewaters improved the self-settling property of yeasts.•The lipid content of yeasts was increased by mixing corn processing wastewaters.•The mycelium morphology of yeasts can be reflected by thermogravimetric analysis. Corn starch wastewater (CSW) and corn oil refining wastewater (CORW) produced by corn processing industry can be used as substrates for oleaginous yeasts, but the problem of separating yeasts from wastewaters hinders industrial applications of the technology. A method for morphological analysis of mycelia based on thermogravimetric analysis was established in this work, and it was found that most of the Trichosporon fermentans in CSW showed mycelium form and exhibited undesirable self-settling property. When equivalent CORW was incorporated to CSW, hypha formation was inhibited, and the yeasts could be settled quickly. Trichosporon fermentans could achieve better wastewater treatment and produce 2.88 times more of lipids in the wastewater consisted of equivalent CSW and CORW than in CSW. This study contributes a new way to treat wastewater from corn processing industry, and is helpful for industrial application of wastewater treatment technology using oleaginous yeasts.