Rapid method for preparation of fatty acid methyl esters from Rhodotorula minuta MTCC 2518 using in situ

transesterification reaction
Alok Kumar Patel, Dr. Parul Aggarwal Pruthi, Prof. Vikas Pruthi Molecular Microbiology Laboratory, Technology, Roorkee, India-247667 Department of Biotechnology, Indian Institute of

New methods need to be developed to drastically improve the economics of microbial oil production process. This study has focused on the single-step, extractive reaction for extraction of lipids such as triacylglycerol (TAG) from Rhodotorula minuta MTCC 2518.This oleaginous yeast was chosen based on its ability to utilize glucose as the primary carbon and energy source, and produce high amounts of intracellular lipids relative to cell weight (~48%). Conventional methods for lipid extraction require multiple steps and long processing times, and use toxic solvents. When the goal is to produce fatty acid methyl esters or FAMEs, the extracted lipids are subjected to a separate transesterification reaction with simple alcohols in the presence of an acid or base catalyst. A simplified, single-step reactive extraction method can be applied that combines the sequential extraction followed by transesterification using acidified alcohols a process known as in situ transesterification. Following the in situ transesterification reaction, the FAMEs were extracted from the acidified alcohol and analyzed using TLC and GC. This was achieved by a liquid/liquid extraction using hexane. From the results obtained, the single step extractive reaction offers a promising and cost efficient method for large scale extraction of fatty acid alkyl esters from microorganisms. Key Words: Rhodotorula minuta, in situ transesterification, Fatty Acid Methyl Esters (FAMEs) References: Liu B, Zhao Z. 2007. Biodiesel production by direct methanolysis of oleaginous microbial biomass. J. Chem. Technol. Biotechnol. 82:775-780. Indarti E, Majid M, Hashim R, Chong A. 2005. Direct FAME synthesis for rapid total lipid analysis from fish oil and cod liver oil. J. Food Comp. Anal. 18:161-170. Meher, LC, Sagar D. Vidya, Naik SN. 2006. Technical aspects of biodiesel production by transesterificationa review. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 10:248- 268, Issue 3.
Corresponding author E-mail address; biotechalok@gmail.com